Cornwall coastguards have helped in the rescue of a stricken chemical tanker off Brazil thanks to the language skills of one of their officers.

The Stolt Tenacity suffered a fire in the engine room 250 miles off the Brazilian coast.

Falmouth Coastguard joined in an international operation to help support communications to the vessel.

The crew of the Stolt Tenacity eventually managed to put out the fire and no-one was injured.

Received call

Falmouth Coastguard became involved when they received a call from the vessel, CEC Cowbridge, via satellite telephone to say it was going to help the tanker.

The Cowbridge had been unable to raise the Brazilian Rescue Authorities.

Fortunately, one of the watch officers at Falmouth speaks fluent Spanish and was able to communicate with the crews on the ships and Brazilian rescue services.

The coastguards also enlisted the help of the Portuguese Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Lisbon.

International rescue

It is the second time in four days Falmouth Coastguard has been involved in an international rescue.

On Tuesday, they picked up a mayday call from two Southampton sailors whose boat had sunk 10 miles off the Malaysian coast.

Duty watch manager Pete Ritchie said: "This highlights our ability to communicate with vessels throughout the world."