Two men rescued after their fishing boat sinks off Hornsea, East Yorkshire
A nearby trawler responded to the Coastguard's Mayday call and brought the two men safely on board their craft
HM Coastguard received a Mayday call just before 2pm on Thursday (22 February) from two men onboard a 10m coble fishing vessel reporting that it was quickly taking on water, 6nm off Hornsea, East Yorkshire Coast.
They said that the water was covering the deck but they were going to try to reach Hornsea before their boat sank.
The HM Coastguard immediately launched their Humberside-based search and rescue helicopter and asked for assistance from Bridlington RNLI Lifeboat and Hornsea Independent Lifeboat.
The Coastguard Operations Centre Humber issued a Mayday relay broadcast to all boats in the vicinity asking for support.
The Coastguard Operations Centre Humber issued a Mayday relay broadcast to all boats in the vicinity asking for support.
A nearby fishing vessel responded to the Mayday and arrived on scene at 2.25pm.
The trawler crew reported that the vessel had sunk 6nm off Hornsea and the two men were in the water. The vessel managed to get the two casualties on board within minutes and alerted the Coastguard that the men were safe and hadn’t suffered injuries.
The trawler crew reported that the vessel had sunk 6nm off Hornsea and the two men were in the water. The vessel managed to get the two casualties on board within minutes and alerted the Coastguard that the men were safe and hadn’t suffered injuries.
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HM Coastguard Senior Maritime Operations Officer, Ryan Douglas said: “These two men did exactly the right thing to notify the Coastguard as soon as their vessel started sinking. When heading out to sea you should always make sure you have a means of alerting us if you get into difficulty. We can never get time back – don’t wait for things to improve. You need to inform us as soon as a potentially difficult situation is developing – once things start to go wrong, they can develop rapidly.
“We recommend you carry a Digital Selective Calling (DSC) VHF radio fitted to your vessel.”, Douglas continued “If your DSC Radio is linked to GPS, when you press the distress button, it automatically sends the coastguard your position which is displayed on our charting system. HM Coastguard is also happy to receive radio checks from fishing vessels if they wish to check their equipment before heading out to sea. You should always have a plan on board for ‘what if?’ and make sure everybody on board knows their part within the plan. In this case, we were able to respond quickly and get these two men safely rescued.”