Lifeboats Save Swimmers And Sinking Boat

Monday, 16 September 2019 11:31

Two swimmers has been rescued from rocks off Jersey's north coast during a busy Sunday for the island's lifeboat crews.

In another call out, crews helped a broken down speedboat that was taking on water near Corbiere.

The swimmers were picked up by the St Catherine RNLI near La Coupe Point last night - having used a mobile phone to raise the alarm.

Earlier that day the St Helier inshore lifeboat went to the aid of the crew of a vessel that had gone to sea with a cracked transom, no safety equipment and only a mobile phone.

They had been relying on the bilge pump to keep them afloat but it failed.

“It is not unusual for there to be a flurry of activity on a fine weekend towards the end of summer. However, two of these incidents had the potential to become much more serious.

For the broken down speedboat which was taking on water, whilst conditions were calm, this incident could quickly have escalated. We would like to take this opportunity to remind all boat users to ensure that they have life-jackets and a means of calling for help other than just a mobile phone. Mobile phone reception around the Jersey coast, and particularly out to sea, can be tricky, so a VHF radio and distress flares should also be considered.

The two swimmers did also have a mobile phone and were somewhat lucky to have found a signal on the north coast. However, they did the right thing by in staying in place and calling for help, rather than trying to make it back to shore.“ - Nigel Sweeny, Lifeboat Operations Manager.

The RNLI responded to another shout yesterday, to reports of a car over the cliff at Grosnez, which turned out to have been there for some time.

The Jersey Lifeboat Association's Sir Max Aitken was also launched to tow a motor cruiser back from Les Minquiers.