EIGHT-DAY SEA DRAMA ENDS IN RESCUE

[Goodge]

Breaking news on Sky news


EIGHT-DAY SEA DRAMA ENDS IN RESCUE


Five people have been rescued off the coast of Cornwall after spending eight days in a liferaft, the coastguard has said.

The five had been on a 60-foot converted ketch which was sailing from Ireland to France via the Isles of Scilly.


The Inis Mil had been unreported for five days when coastguard officers received an emergency mobile phone call.

A liferaft was then located off Trevose Head by a rescue helicopter with five survivors on board.

All the survivors have now been transferred to the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske.



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[Bergman]

I too have watched this story develop - sort of warm up for the foxy thing in Commons.

Surprised that no news prior to today as search has apparently being going on since Sunday.

The skipper seemed very upset, not surprisingly, about fishing boat ignoring his flares when only 400m away. And also less than happy that no attempt made to fly out a pump which may have saved the boat.

I certainly dont envy them a week in a liferaft in those conditions, they seemed in remarkably good condition at the press conference to say it was only a few hours after being fished out of the raft.

Very lucky people.

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[tugboat]

Wot? No EPIRB? /forums/images/icons/crazy.gif

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[onenyala]

On TV they said they were setting fire to tyres on deck and setting fire to the wheel house to attract attention. What had happened to the fixed VHF or a hand held in the meantime ?

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[Captain_Chaos]

Sorry, am i missing something here?

"Unhappy that they didnt fly out a pump that would have saved the yacht" ????? Suggests that the yacht was still afloat when they were rescued. Is this right?

So, having taken on water at such a rate that they they felt it necessary to abandon ship, and after getting no response to mayday calls they torched the wheelhouse to attract attention,was the yacht still afloat seven days later.



<hr width=100% size=1>74.56% of all statistics are made up.

 

[Bergman]

No not afloat when rescued.

It was a comment made by the skipper during the press conference.

Apparently there were several hours from the first Pan call until finally abandoning the vessel.

During this time it seems that 3 pumps failed for various reasons and they resorted to buckets to bail - without success.

The skipper wanted a transportable pump and believed that had one been available he could have saved the ship.

Not clear, at least to me, why this could not happen. It may have been lack of communications with SAR organisation or some other reason.

In fact the first part of the event seems a little unclear. Not stated whether Pan and Mayday calls were received and if so by whom and what actions were taken by them.

No doubt all will become clear in due course.

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[Benbow]

I agree that this all seems very strange, but it is worrying how poor the reporting is. Eg BBC news last night said 'they abandoned their boat when their engine failed', they then followed it with a series of interviews which flatly contradicted that, but were edited so that it was impossible to reconstruct what really happened. The thing I find worrying is, that whenever a news story covers something I know about in any depth, I immediately see that it is deeply flawed. Does that mean that ALL news stories including those covering things I don't know much about, like finance and politics, are equally garbled ?

And as for John Humphries (or any of the Today crew) interviewing a scientist, it is shocking how poor a job they do of extracting information. But if they had John Humphries interviewing a footballer, it would look like a joke.

Sorry, begining to rant.

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[Gordonmc]

This morning's accounts have the skipper saying none of their Pan Pan or Mayday VHF transmissions were picked up. A search was started after a relative reported non-arrival in Cherbourg.
It seems remarkable that a converted trawler then a liferaft can go unnoticed in busy confined waters. Maybe time for a re-think about personal location devices.

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[jenku]

>Does that mean that ALL news stories including those covering things I don't know >much about, like finance and politics, are equally garbled ?

Yes and no. I would say it depends on the reporter doing the job. Most reporters doing jobs about politics and finance do have some knowledge about it. But when a reporter who is really a golfer has to do a piece on something boaty, he would normally not ask the right questions because he does not care about WHY the boat got into trouble. Instead he is doing a personal interest piece about the survivors which is, after all, a much easier way to get the job done and get home before dinner.

We had a story about a guy in a 6m wooden motorboat drifting all the way from Sweden to Estonia a couple of years ago. All reporting made some great fuss about him surviving on dog food, but nobody asked what happened to his boat. It later turned out that the boat was not leaking at all, only his engine failed or maybe he had run out of gas, I don't remember. He also met several vessels who did not offer him a tow, either did the Estonian costguard who finally picked him up. The man was very worried about his boat and wanted it rescued, but everybody just asked him how he cooked the dog food!!

<hr width=100% size=1>http://www.sail.to/alacrity

 

[beachbum]

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

...but it is worrying how poor the reporting is...

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Ain't it just!

Only a few weeks ago, the crew of a RIB were rescued and reported as being
"...winched aboard a RAF Nimrod..."

?!!???!!?

The sheer incompetence of these people is breathtaking - and, indeed, very worrying.

<hr width=100% size=1><font size=1>Nobody is perfect.
I am nobody.
Therefore I am perfect.</font size=1> /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

 

[roam]

we were having the same conversation last night.

with flares, there is no guarantee that
a. they will be seen or
b. they will be acted upon.
the cost of flares is extorionate (offshore pack 200 quid and lasts 3 years) whereas eprib is 300 quid (ok 2nd hand), can be serviced and battery replaced AND will alert coastguard nearly 100% of the time.

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[ubuysa]

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

...but it is worrying how poor the reporting is...

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My nephew drowned on holiday in Greece a few years ago. It was his own fault but, at the inquest back in the UK, my brother mentioned that there was a speedboat near where his son drowned. It wasn't involved, my brother just happened to mention it.

After the inquest my brother was approached by a reporter from a very well known national daily newspaper and asked to make a statement. My brother declined and the reorter told him that if he didn't make a statement they'd make the story up. He still declined and the next day the paper ran a part true and mosty wrong story under the headline "British tourist killed by speedboat".

I have since had a healthy distrust of journalists!

Tony C.

<hr width=100% size=1>Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.......

 

[Graham_Wright]

I see on the news that they set fire to their yacht. That implies it was still afloat so why abandon?
Or are the reports wrong?

<hr width=100% size=1>GBW

 

[gjeffery]

I have not heard mention of DSC VHF. Anybody know if they tried to use it?

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[milltech]

Nice plug on the TV for Seago rafts and good to know they stay up for a week innit, (specially since I've got one aboard and sell them)!

<hr width=100% size=1>John
http://www.on-line-marine.com

 

[Parsonsheath]

Yes, it is nice to see how this "low level entry" raft fared, but the reporting said they had run out of water, and the ad for this raft says it does have some rainwater collection system; appreciate it is all down to the reporter, but will be interesting to read the final reports on this.

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[BrendanS]

The amount of rain water required to keep 7 people in water for an extended period would be quite substantial. The area I suspect a raft would be collecting water from would be relatively small. Survival measures only, not adequate to keep 7 people hydrated

<hr width=100% size=1>Me transmitte sursum, caledoni