peterb26
Well-Known Member
A major rescue mission was launched after a boat sank in the early hours of the morning.
Solent Coastguard were alerted at 1.30 this morning by a mobile phone call to the plight of 7 passengers, four men and three women including two people under the age of 18, on board a 26 foot speed boat, the `Deep Purple' which had struck an underwater object in the middle of the Solent and was sinking fast.
The call initially reported that the bow of their vessel was some four foot out the water and the people on board the craft needed help immediately.
<span style="color:red">Five were wearing lifejackets, two were not. They did not possess any flares or VHF radio. </span>
Solent Coastguard scrambled Coastguard Helicopter Rescue Whiskey Bravo, Bembridge and Calshot RNLI lifeboats and the Gosport and Fareham Inshore Lifeboat
Southampton VTS tasked their patrol boat and the police launch `Humphrey Gale' was tasked by the Portsmouth Queens Harbourmaster.
An extensive search of the central Solent took place as the situation deteriorated and the boat sank.
A broadcast was also issued into the area calling on other vessels to render assistance if they were in the vicinity and to keep a sharp lookout in the general area.
Seven people were now in the water with the only form of communication being a mobile telephone.
The information being passed with regard to the casualty location was very confusing but a Royal Marine RHIB operating in the area heard the Coastguards distress broadcast and located the casualties.
Their condition was described on scene as hypothermic and one casualty had a minor head injury.
The marine craft with the cold and wet people on board then rendezvoused with the lifeboat and before they were transferred and brought ashore at Camber Docks, Old Portsmouth to be met by an ambulance, Coastguard and the Marine Police Unit before being taken to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.
Colin Griffiths, Solent Coastguard Watch Manager, described the incident as one with lessons for all leisure sailors.
He said: 'If the vessel had sunk immediately throwing all of the people into the water rather than giving them time to contact the Coastguard we could easily have been discussing fatalities this morning.
'To go afloat at night without making sure all your passengers are wearing lifejackets; and that you possess a working radio or flares or even a GPS giving your exact location is taking a risk too far. They are extremely lucky to be just wet and cold.
'We are checking reports of what they might have struck, but can find no indication on any current chart which has not been helped by the confusion surrounding their location. We suspect it may have been a well documented mooring buoy.'
Source - Portsmouth Today. <span style="color:red"> </span>
Solent Coastguard were alerted at 1.30 this morning by a mobile phone call to the plight of 7 passengers, four men and three women including two people under the age of 18, on board a 26 foot speed boat, the `Deep Purple' which had struck an underwater object in the middle of the Solent and was sinking fast.
The call initially reported that the bow of their vessel was some four foot out the water and the people on board the craft needed help immediately.
<span style="color:red">Five were wearing lifejackets, two were not. They did not possess any flares or VHF radio. </span>
Solent Coastguard scrambled Coastguard Helicopter Rescue Whiskey Bravo, Bembridge and Calshot RNLI lifeboats and the Gosport and Fareham Inshore Lifeboat
Southampton VTS tasked their patrol boat and the police launch `Humphrey Gale' was tasked by the Portsmouth Queens Harbourmaster.
An extensive search of the central Solent took place as the situation deteriorated and the boat sank.
A broadcast was also issued into the area calling on other vessels to render assistance if they were in the vicinity and to keep a sharp lookout in the general area.
Seven people were now in the water with the only form of communication being a mobile telephone.
The information being passed with regard to the casualty location was very confusing but a Royal Marine RHIB operating in the area heard the Coastguards distress broadcast and located the casualties.
Their condition was described on scene as hypothermic and one casualty had a minor head injury.
The marine craft with the cold and wet people on board then rendezvoused with the lifeboat and before they were transferred and brought ashore at Camber Docks, Old Portsmouth to be met by an ambulance, Coastguard and the Marine Police Unit before being taken to the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.
Colin Griffiths, Solent Coastguard Watch Manager, described the incident as one with lessons for all leisure sailors.
He said: 'If the vessel had sunk immediately throwing all of the people into the water rather than giving them time to contact the Coastguard we could easily have been discussing fatalities this morning.
'To go afloat at night without making sure all your passengers are wearing lifejackets; and that you possess a working radio or flares or even a GPS giving your exact location is taking a risk too far. They are extremely lucky to be just wet and cold.
'We are checking reports of what they might have struck, but can find no indication on any current chart which has not been helped by the confusion surrounding their location. We suspect it may have been a well documented mooring buoy.'
Source - Portsmouth Today. <span style="color:red"> </span>
