Nice job!
British Fliers Rescue Fishing Crew
By BETH GARDINER, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - British fliers carried off a daring rescue mission Saturday, venturing out over 30-foot seas in high winds to lift 18 sailors from a fishing trawler stranded off the coast of Scotland.. . . .The Royal Air Force said the ship's French captain was missing, believed to have been washed overboard Friday.
The French-registered, Spanish-owned ship Le Perrain, drifting without power about 250 miles northwest of the Outer Hebrides islands, sent a distress call at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
The ship was tossed by powerful waves and battered by winds of up to 70 mph. Heavy rains and gales have pounded parts of Britain for days, causing severe flooding in some areas.
RAF Nimrod reconnaissance planes kept watch over the ship as helicopters ventured as far from land as they can safely go to winch the crew to safety at 9:30 a.m.
Another fishing vessel had pulled alongside the Perrain earlier, but was unable to get close enough to pull its crew off.
Michael Mulford, a spokesman for the RAF's base in Kinloss, Scotland, said the helicopter crews had only 20 minutes to rescue the sailors before they had to head back to refuel.
"The helicopter was operating at its absolute limits, and had only a very, very short time left before it had to leave the scene," he said.
The rescuers and 18 crew members made it safely to land at Stornoway, on the Isle of Lewis, he said.
Skipper Yannick Jeog was missing. Two of the rescued crew were being treated for injuries — one suffered bruises on his chest, the other a facial wound.
The name of the Spanish company that owned the ship was not immediately released. The RAF said most of the crew were Spanish.
Earlier Saturday, British Coastguards rescued 16 Russian crew members from a cargo ship off the southwestern coast of England.
The sailors were airlifted off the Kodima, registered in Malta, while two tugs tried to keep the ship from sinking.
The crew had dumped some of the timber cargo into the sea to stop the ship from listing, but the tilt only grew worse.
Off Brighton, on England's south coast, Coastguards called off their hunt for a man swept out to sea from a pier.
The man, who has not been identified, was seen clinging to girders underneath Brighton Pier but was dragged out to sea by ferocious waves, officials said.
Off Porthcawl, in south Wales, rescuers saved a man who was swept off a stone pier while fishing in gale force winds. He was hospitalized in critical condition.