Fishermen dies after vessel sinks off Harris – Fishupdate.com
Fishermen dies after vessel sinks off Harris Published: 22 February, 2013
A fisherman has died in hospital after the fishing boat he and two other crewmen were in sank rapidly off the west coast of Harris, Western Isles, Scotland, yesterday afternoon February 21.
The three, all from Lewis, were rescued from a liferaft by the Coastguard rescue helicopter based in Stornoway after their 10-metre fishing vessel Achieve sank.
All three crew members, who had been in the water, were winched from a liferaft to the helicopter and were taken to Western Isles Hospital for treatment. Two men were discharged, however, the third man later died in hospital. Next of kin have been informed.
Stornoway Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre heard a spoken Mayday call asking for urgent assistance just after 3pm.
But because no location was given Stornoway Coastguard calculated the likely location of the fishing vessel by triangulating the strength of the radio signal through their cluster of radio aerials and checked with local ports and harbours for a vessel of the same name.
Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre reported that a distress alert had been received from a RNLI Man Overboard Beacon and so the Leverburgh RNLI Lifeboat was asked to go to this position along with the Coastguard rescue helicopter based at Stornoway. When the helicopter arrived on scene they saw a red flare launched by the liferaft.
The liferaft was recovered by the lifeboat who also checked the scene for debris and pollution.
Ed Thompson Stornoway Coastguard Watch Manager said: “It would appear that the fishermens vessel sank very quickly, and although they were unable to give us their position during their Mayday call for help they had flares in the liferaft and so were able to quickly attract the attention of the helicopter when it arrived on scene.”
A report is to be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.