HM Coastguard

Coastguards are this afternoon searching for a 12-year-old boy who is believed to have been swept out to sea at Aberffraw. Holyhead Coastguard received a 999 call at around 12.30 this lunchtime reporting that three people were stuck on rocks in the estuary. Further information then suggested that two men had managed to make it back to shore, plus a young boy; however another youngster was caught in the large waves and swept out to sea. The Rhosneigr, Holyhead, Bangor and Moelfre Coastguard Rescue Teams along with two Coastguard Sector Managers are currently involved in the search, alongside the RNLI lifeboats from Porthdinllaen, Holyhead, and Trearddur Bay, the search and rescue helicopter from RAF Valley and North Wales Police.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) announced today that eight foreign flagged ships were under detention in UK ports during July 2014 after failing Port State Control (PSC) inspection. During July, there were five new detentions of foreign flagged vessels in UK ports.   Three vessels remained under detention from previous months. Four vessels were released during July.  A total of four vessels remain under detention at the end of July. In response to one of the recommendations of Lord Donaldson’s Inquiry into the prevention of pollution from merchant shipping and in compliance with the EU Directive on Port State Control (2009/16/EC as amended), the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) publishes details of the foreign flagged vessels detained in UK ports each month. The UK is part of a regional agreement on port state control known as the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Paris MOU) and information on all ships that are inspected is held centrally in

Humber  Coastguard received a 999 call this morning at 5.45am from a man reporting that his 36ft Bavarian yacht had gone up in smoke approximately 15 nautical miles off Sunderland. He was in need of assistance and recovery from his life raft. Humber Coastguard requested the Hartlepool RNLI inshore and all weather lifeboats to the scene as well as the Tynemouth all weather lifeboat. The Seaham Coastguard Rescue Team was tasked and the RAF rescue helicopter from Boulmer also dispatched. Humber Coastguard also received a number of 999 calls from the public and local vessels in the area who could see the smoke plumes and the yacht on fire. Humber Coastguard Watch Manager Mark Ellis said: “When we spoke to this gentleman, it was clear that he was foreign, but through broken English we were able to instruct him to discharge his personal locator beacon (PLB) which gave us an exact location. However due to the highly visible smoke on scene many vessels were already en route t

A man has been rescued after his yacht ran into difficulty 28 nautical miles north of Cromer. Humber Coastguard received a distress alert from the 22ft yacht just after 8am this morning.  The person on board reported that he was taking on water, his sails were in tatters and the engine had failed. The wind at the time was gusting up to 46 mph, with a 3.5 metre swell. The search and rescue helicopter from RAF Wattisham was sent to the scene, along with the RNLI’s Cromer and Humber all-weather lifeboats. A vessel in the area at the time also went to help and stood by the yacht until rescue units arrived. The man was then winched on board the helicopter and taken to hospital to be checked over as he is showing signs of suffering from hypothermia. Graham Dawson, Watch Manager at Humber Coastguard, said: “Conditions out in the North Sea so far today have been pretty treacherous, with winds gusting more than 40mph and a large swell. “Howev

Boscastle Flooding 16 th August 2004 The storms of Monday 16 August 2004 saw three weeks worth of rain fall in one day. The resulting water began to be funnelled down the valleys surrounding Boscastle and soon the steep roads became rivers. By the time that the water reached the picturesque village, it had picked up enough momentum to become a raging torrent, sweeping into buildings, washing cars away and felling huge trees. Graham King runs the Witches Museum in Boscastle and was also the station officer for the Boscastle Coastguard Rescue Team at the time of the floods: “ My museum is situated next to the harbour near the river ,” says Graham “ and I can see the coastguard equipment store from there. Initially I was concerned that the vehicle and equipment were going to become stranded but I soon began to realise how quickly the situation was deteriorating and called Falmouth Coastguard ” From that point on the villagers and tourists stranded in flood waters were he