HM Coastguard

A single-handed yachtsman was rescued from the sea off Cornwall this morning after his personal locator beacon alerted the Coastguard. Falmouth Coastguard received the alert from the personal locator beacon at 10.30am. The position of the beacon was in the Brixham Coastguard’s area and so they took-over coordination for the rescue and asked the Royal Navy Rescue helicopter from Culdrose and the RNLI All-weather lifeboat from Fowey to go straight to the scene. When the helicopter arrived they found the yacht at 11.20am but couldn’t see anyone onboard. They found the yachtsman in the water a little way from the vessel. It’s believed that the yachtsman, who had been travelling from Port Mellion back to his base at Plymouth, had been in the water for around an hour. He was airlifted to hospital at Treliske for medical attention and two members of the RNLI Lifeboat crew from Fowey sailed the yacht back to Fowey. David Colmer, Brixham Coastguard Watch Manager said: “Today’s rescue

A fisherman was rescued this afternoon after he had spent around two and a half hours in the sea, after he fell overboard from his fishing vessel. The man was pulled out of the water after he was spotted floating by another fishing vessel, Codonga 2, around 16 miles off Robin Hoods Bay. Humber Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre received a mayday from 'Codonga 2' at 3.26pm. The RNLI lifeboat from Whitby went immediately to the scene and from there they brought the fisherman back to shore where he is now receiving medical attention. 'Codonga 2' had been contacted by the fisherman's wife asking them to keep a look out for her husband as his vessel was overdue. They spotted his fishing boat in an unusual position and went to investigate at which point they found him in the water without any personal floatation device. It's believed he drifted five miles from where he fell in. Luckily his boat had drifted with him. Graham Dawson, Humber Coastguard Watch

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced today that seven foreign flagged ships were under detention in UK ports during August 2012 after failing Port State Control (PSC) inspection. Latest monthly figures show that there was one new detention of foreign flagged ships in UK ports during August 2012 and six vessels remained under detention from previous months. The overall rate of detentions compared with inspections carried out over the last twelve months was 3.01% this is slightly down from Julys twelve month rate. Out of the detained vessels four were registered with a flag state listed on the Paris MOU white list, one was registered with a flag state on the grey list, none were registered with a flag state on the black list, one was unregistered and one was registered with a flag state that was not included on the Paris MOU white, grey or black lists. 1. In response to one of the recommendations of Lord Donaldsons Inquiry into the prevention of pollution from merchant

At a hearing today at Walsall Magistrates the owner of a Staffs & Worcester Canal Boat pleaded guilty to four charges under Government safety legislation. He was fined £10,000 plus costs of £4,654.33. The UK registered Canal Boat Hatherton Belle is a 20 metre vessel that had been adapted to carry up 45 passengers along the Staffs & Worcester Canal from Calf Heath Marina. The owner, local businessman Andy Small who also operates a bar next to the Marina , used the canal boat to take paying parties on cruises along the canal. It was brought to the attention of the MCA that the Hatherton Belle had no Passenger Ship Safety Certificate or Domestic Management Certificate. Mr Small was served with a Prohibition Notice as the Canal Boat lacked safety equipment. Mr Small ignored the Prohibition Notice and continued to take paying passengers on cruises along the canal. When interviewed by MCA Enforcement Officers he admitted breaching the Prohibition notic

The National Contingency Plan for Marine Pollution from Shipping and Offshore Installations has been re-written and interested parties are being asked to comment. The plan is the blueprint for how the UK would respond to offshore pollution from shipping and offshore installations. The revisions have particularly focused on the areas of; v command, control, communications and operations v environment, scientific and technical advisory activity v shoreline response and the Civil Contingency Act Coordination v waste management and v claims and legal aspects of national incident response The consultation will run for 8 weeks until 12 November 2012 . The document can be found at http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/mcga07-home/emergencyresponse/mcga-dops_cp_environmental-counter-pollution_and_response/cp-con-ncp2012.htm . All responses will be considered and it is expected that the final updated version of the National Conti

Two people on board a power boat have been rescued from the sea following a racing event this afternoon in Weymouth Bay . At 2.29pm Portland Coastguard was alerted to an accident involving a power boat which had flipped over.   The two crew on board had both been injured.   The vessel was in the area of Weymouth Town Beach and the harbour entrance. The casualties were recovered from the water and to enable a quick transfer to hospital, the most severely injured casualty was taken aboard the Weymouth RNLI lifeboat and winched by the Portland Coastguard Rescue Helicopter to fly onwards to Southampton General Hospital . The second casualty was transferred to Southampton General Hospital by the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance Helimed 10. Wyke Regis Coastguard Rescue Team was on scene at Weymouth and Southampton Coastguard Rescue Team was called out to secure the helicopter landing site. A report has been made to the MAIB, (Marine Accident Investigation Bra

Dover Coastguard is appealing for information about the whereabouts of a swimmer thought to be missing in or around Dover Harbour this evening. The Coastguard received a call from a member of the public at 7.00 pm this evening to report that the person had been seen swimming out towards the harbour entrance and had then disappeared from view. Dover Coastguard instructed the Langdon Coastguard Rescue Team to begin a shoreline search. Dover RNLI Lifeboat was requested to launch and was joined in its search by the Police Boat ‘Delta 99’ and the harbour tug ‘Dauntless’. An RAF rescue helicopter from RAF Wattisham was also scrambled and began a search using its forward looking infrared camera. Dover Coastguard Watch Manager Tony Guy says: “We searched the area both inside and outside the harbour this evening for three hours, but by 10.00 pm we had saturated the area and had found no sign of the missing swimmer. The decision was therefore taken to terminate the search. The swimmer was la

Brixham Coastguard picked up a distress alert from the fishing vessel Girl Rhona at 11:24am, informing them that a fishing vessel had capsized 2.5 miles off Berry Head, Brixham and they had managed to retrieve two of the three fishermen from the water. The Coastguard Rescue helicopter was scrambled from Portland and the Torbay RNLI lifeboat was requested to launch. A Mayday broadcast was put out to shipping in the area and a number of vessels including the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Knight have offered assistance in the search currently being coordinated by Brixham Coastguard. Brixham Coastguard, says: The vessel is a 15m beam trawler operating out of Brixham, two of the three crew have been rescued but the third was still on board when the vessel capsized. The search is ongoing.

Two crew aboard a 27 foot motor cruiser were rescued off Poole Harbour this afternoon after reporting a potential fire aboard their vessel. Portland Coastguard intercepted a call on VHF Channel 16 from the motor cruiser at 12:53pm .   The crew were reporting a potential fire on board; their position given was 1.5 nautical miles east of Poole Harbour entrance. Poole RNLI inshore lifeboat and all weather lifeboats were requested to launch and a local vessel in the area stood by the casualty in case the situation deteriorated further.   John Braisher, Portland Coastguard said: “The motor cruiser had departed Poole bound for the Isle of Wight  when smoke was discovered in the engine room. The two crew aboard quickly closed the hatch cover and alerted us immediately. We advised them to keep clear of the hatch cover and put on their lifejackets until help arrived; unfortunately they were not carrying lifejackets or a life raft aboard their vessel. Poole RNLI

The MSC Flaminia has left its holding position 20 miles south of Lands End and is now being towed to German territorial waters. The departure of the ship follows approval from the UK, France, Belgium and the Netherlands for the vessel to travel through their waters. The journey to German territorial waters is expected to take between four and five days. -Ends – Notes to Editors 1.       At 0909 hrs UTC on 14 July 2012 MRCC Falmouth was advised that the 75,590 GT German Flag container ship MSC FLAMINIA had suffered a fire and explosion in position 48 13.0N: 027 46W. The German owned vessel, was on passage from Charleston, USA to Antwerp, Belgium and was laden with a cargo of 2876 containers (4808 TEU equiv) – 149 being classed as Dangerous Goods (DGs). The MSC FLAMINIA suffered considerable damage however a team of international independent experts inspected the vessel on 28 August 2012 and consider that her residual strength is still sound and sufficient for her to rem

Five crew were rescued from a liferaft this evening after their fishing vessel ‘Chloe T’ began to sink 17 nautical miles south west of Bolt Head. Brixham Coastguard received a distress alert from the vessel at just before 4.20pm. The vessel reported that they were taking on water in the engine room. They immediately sent the RNLI lifeboat based at Salcombe and the Royal Navy Rescue Helicopter from Culdrose to the scene. They broadcast a warning to vessels in the area asking vessels in the vicinity to head for the scene. ‘Maersk Patras’, ‘Amber J’, ‘Brittany Ferry ‘Armorique’, ‘Dart Angler’ and ‘Lady Maureen’ responded. After the fishing vessel lost power and the pumps failed all the crew of the Penzance based registered fishing vessel number TZ1186 took to the liferaft. The ferry ‘Armorique’ and ‘Maersk Partas’ reached the scene first and stood-by the liferaft until the helicopter arrived and winched the crew to safety. The five crew are now safely back on shore and Brixham C

Four people and a child were rescued from a sinking speedboat this afternoon. The boat began taking on water while anchored off Bournemouth Beach for the Bournemouth Air Festival. At 2 pm one of four adults on board the Fletcher speedboat called Portland Coastguard by dialling 999 to report that their vessel was taking on water. When they called they told the Coastguard that they were standing in ankle-deep water and didn’t have lifejackets. Whilst the RNLI lifeboats from Poole (which had been stationed off Bournemouth Pier) made its way to the scene, the child was passed from the speedboat to a small yacht. Just before the Poole Lifeboats arrived on scene the speedboat sank and the four adults were rescued from the water. The lifeboats took them to Bournemouth Pier for medical treatment. Portland Coastguard Watch Manager Ros Evans said; “They were very lucky to survive as they had no lifejackets, flares or radio. If the lifeboats had not been in the area they would