In conditions far from ideal, the crew of the Newquay Coastguard helicopter have completed their 600th search and rescue mission.

They were called out to medevac a crewman from a tanker off the Cornish coast.

The helicopter captain, Jörg Brunner, had to navigate through dense fog and low cloud to reach the motor tanker, which was anchored five nautical miles off Lizard Point.

The ship amongst the fog and cloud. Credit: MCA

The search and rescue helicopter was scrambled at 2pm on Sunday (08 October) after UK Coastguard received a 999 call from the vessel reporting that one of their crew had fallen ill.

“Due to very low cloud and fog in the area yesterday, we decided to climb to 3,000ft to avoid any obstructions on direct track to the incident,” explained Captain Brunner.

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“Once in the Mount’s Bay area, we used our on board radar and Forward Looking Infrared systems (FLIR) to safely descend through cloud and fog and successfully located the ship,” he explained.

The casualty is winched on board. Credit: MCA

Once on the scene, the casualty was successfully winched on board the helicopter, which flew him via Falmouth and further along the Carrick Roads to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

The man was then transferred from the helicopter into the care of medical staff at the hospital.

“We hope he makes a swift recovery,” added Brunner.