Stornoway Coastguard Rescue Helicopter went to assist a sinking fishing vessel this afternoon and while deploying a pump from the helicopter both the fisherman and the winchman both went in the water as the vessel sank under them.
At 4.39pm Stornoway Coastguard was contacted by the skipper of a near by fishing vessel Phoenix reporting that the 11 metre fishing vessel Kalahari was sinking. Stornoway Coastguard immediately sent the Coastguard Rescue helicopter to the scene with pumping equipment.
The winchman from the Coastguard Rescue helicopter went down onto the deck of Kalahari with the Coastguard pump but unfortunately they were not able to control the ingress of water and the vessel has sunk.
The fisherman and winchman were taken back into the helicopter and returned to Stornoway where the casualty can be assessed for hypothermia at the Western Isles Hospital.
Stornoway Coastguard Rescue Helicopter has been scrambled twice today and this now pushes the total number of search and rescue missions for the helicopter above 3,000 missions.
