COASTGUARD SEARCH FOR TWO BOATS LOST IN FOG

Swansea Coastguard are warning members of the public to check weather reports and take appropriate equipment before setting out to sea after two vessels in two days got into difficulty in fog and had to call for help.

The first incident happened at 4.25 yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) when people on board a 16ft angling boat contacted Swansea Coastguard to advise that they had run aground near Penarth due to low visibility.  They were able to give an approximate position based on their GPS but were not entirely sure of their exact location and so Swansea Coastguard sent out Penarth Coastguard Rescue Team to find the stricken vessel.  The Penarth RNLI inshore lifeboat was also sent out to search, but with visibility down to about 80ft at the time it was very difficult for resources to find her.  At 6.00 pm both the Coastguard and the inshore Lifeboat located the vessel and it was decided that they would wait until high water to refloat the boat.  At 9.00 pm the vessel refloated and safely returned to Cardiff Bay.  The three people on board were wearing lifejackets but did not have a working radio.

At 08.49 this morning people on board another angling vessel contacted Swansea Coastguard to advise that they had been out fishing and had got lost in the fog.  They thought that they were somewhere near the mouth of the River Usk, near Newport.  Again, they were calling on a mobile phone as they had no working radios on board, and the only information they had was that they were near a specific type of buoy that marks the end of a sewer pipe (outfall buoy).  Using this information, and location information from their mobile phone, Swansea Coastguard again sent the Penarth Coastguard Rescue Team and RNLI lifeboat to search for the boat.  Due to the low visibility it took the lifeboat two hours to search around every outfall buoy in the area and eventually locate the vessel, at which point they escorted them back to their moorings on the River Usk.

Bernie Kemble, Watch Manager, Swansea Coastguard said:

“The break between Christmas and New Year might seem like an ideal time to take out a boat, but low visibility makes it extremely challenging to navigate a vessel safely or to give an accurate location if you get into difficulty.  The people on board these vessels were lucky that they had sufficient mobile phone signal to call for help, as neither had working radios on board, and although the first vessel had flares it is unlikely they would have been seen in dense fog.  If you are setting out to sea, regardless of the weather conditions, you should always ensure you have navigation equipment, flares, a working radio and enough lifejackets for everyone on board.”

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