Fishermen rescued from water off Hastings

HM Coastguard received the mayday broadcast just before 10am from the fishermen reporting they were putting on their lifejackets and that their vessel was taking on water.

The coastguard immediately requested the RNLI inshore and all weather lifeboats from Hastings to launch and the coastguard helicopter to scramble.

Just 10 minutes later another vessel reported to the coastguard that the fishing vessel had sunk and the three men were in the water.

A coastguard spokesperson said, “Fifteen minutes later the helicopter arrived on scene, spotted the three men in the water and directed the inshore lifeboat to them. The lifeboat took the three fishermen, all wearing lifejackets, on board. They were brought back to shore by the lifeboat.

Ian Guy at HM Coastguard said, “All of the crew are safe and well. Because they were able to broadcast a mayday message and were wearing their lifejackets, we were able to locate and rescue them very quickly, so they were only in the water for 15 minutes or so.”