Tag Archives: lifeboat crew
Lifeboat crew return after 18-hour call
Stephen Manson described the seas as “brutal” after the lifeboat was called out to aid the Danish trawler Westbank and her three-man crew. The 17m fishing vessel had broken down, and the RNLI crew launched into difficult conditions in the North Sea, heading into the south-easterly gale which has brought chaos across Scotland. “It was brutal, there were big seas, a lot of rolling and things going walkabout on the boat,” Mr Manson said. “We handled it well and it all ran fairly smoothly, but weather was very much a challenge, especially getting there.” >>click to read<< 10:58
Marine Accident Investigation Branch – Fishermen ‘worked to exhaustion’ before death in sinking
Martin Johnstone, Christopher Morrison and Paul Alliston died when the Louise went down in the Outer Hebrides in April last year. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) found a series of mistakes contributed to the sinking of the boat, while the emergency response was delayed by almost an hour. The Louisa’s four-man crew were asleep when the creel boat began taking on water at anchor off Mingulay. They had worked 20-hour shifts for four days before the sinking, sleeping between stringing creels and eating snacks as they went. An alarm intended to warn them about flooding had been disabled and they did not wake up until the Louisa was already sinking rapidly. The men abandoned the boat but were unable to inflate their faulty life raft. click here to read the story 20:56
