UK Coastguard locate lost man North of Amble
UK Coastguard received a call from Northumbria Police earlier
this evening (Mon 16th October) about a 999 call from a man
reporting to be lost at sea.
The man was
calling from a 24ft boat, reporting his positon somewhere to the north of
Amble, he had lost power and radio communications, had narrowly missed some
rocks and reported to be heading into a storm.
The
Coastguard spent lots of time talking to the man on his mobile telephone, and
were eventually able to pinpoint his exact position by using Merchant vessels
along with Amble and Howick Coastguard Rescue Teams. UK Coastguard then
requested the launch of Amble RNLI All-Weather Lifeboat, who now have the man
under tow on his way back to the Amble Harbour.
Ryan
Douglas, Senior Maritime Operations Officer for the UK Coastguard said,
“It is
absolutely essential to have the correct and most suitable communications
equipment when setting out to sea, especially in extreme weather conditions,
like we are experiencing tonight. In fact in this weather we would warn anyone
against going out, but if there was no option it would be imperative to be
properly prepared.
If you use
VHF radio when making an emergency call to the Coastguard, you
will tell everyone within range what your situation is even if you cannot see
them – there might be someone nearby who can help you more quickly.
If you
are at sea and only have a mobile phone you will only be able to speak to the
person you are making the call to. If
mobile network coverage is poor, like tonight, then you might not be able to
make a mobile call at all.”