Pair winched to safety from listing sailing boat

2 hours ago

Alex Pope

News image — HM Coastguard Southend-on-Sea was called to River Roach just off Foulness Island, on Tuesday

HM Coastguard Southend-on-Sea A red and white helicopter flying in the sky, over water, with two people in a white boat that is listing. Another red vessel is in the water, and there are reeds in front of the water. A cable is going from the helicopter to the boat. — HM Coastguard Southend-on-Sea was called to River Roach just off Foulness Island, on Tuesday

Two people have been winched to safety by helicopter after getting into difficulty at a river mouth.

HM Coastguard Southend-on-Sea said it was called to reports that the 22ft (6.7m) sailing vessel was listing at the entrance to the River Roach just off Foulness Island, close to Southend-on-Sea, Essex, at 16:00 GMT on Tuesday.

A coastguard helicopter, Helo363, was scrambled, along with RNLI crews from West Mersea and Clacton and paramedics from the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

It said a coastguard officer assessed the various options and the quickest and safest way to get them to safety was to use the helicopter.

HM Coastguard Southend-on-Sea A person hanging on the end of a cord, from a helicopter, that is flying in the sky. The helicopter is white and red, there is a large open sky and then reeds below. — The helicopter travelled from Manston, Kent, to the scene

The Crouch harbour master was then called to secure the boat.

The coastguard said, via Facebook, that the officer in charge "assessed the various options but the quickest and safest extraction method was use of Helo363 to quickly extract both occupants from the listing vessel to a place of safety where they were checked over by first responders on scene".

It confirmed all the occupants did not need any medical attention and all emergency teams were stood down.