FISHING VESSEL SINKS OFF SOUTHWOLD

Three men were rescued by a lifeboat from their life raft after their fishing vessel sank this morning.

At 10am Thames Coastguard was alerted to a VHF radio message from the fishing vessel Southern Star reporting that they were sinking and giving their position four miles east of Dunwich in Suffolk.

The vessel sank within minutes after a very fast ingress of water in the engine compartment and the crew abandoned to their life raft.  Thames Coastguard requested the launch of Southwold and Aldeburgh RNLI lifeboats.  All three men were located by the ‘Mistress Three’ recovered and transferred to Southwold lifeboat.

Watch Manager Aimee Rampton at Thames Coastguard says,

“The men rescued today were all sensibly wearing lifejackets and fortunately the weather conditions are a great deal more benign than yesterday, when rough seas would have made it difficult to get into a life raft. 

To save time in an emergency at sea, HM Coastguard recommends that boat owners link VHF DSC to the GPS on the boat enabling a very quick emergency distress alert to be broadcast which will include your location.”  

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