A search is ongoing off the coast of Dover this evening after a search for a liferaft led to the location of several items of flotsam from a fishing vessel.
The search was originally prompted by a vessel reporting they had seen a liferaft floating in the sea off the coast of Dover. When the Ramsgate Lifeboat went out to search for the liferaft they instead found a fish box, and then several more items of flotsam suspected to have come from a fishing vessel.
At 14.00, Dover Coastguard sent RAF helicopter Rescue 125 to the scene to begin a search, and began their own investigation into where the debris could have originated. The name of a French fishing vessel on the side of a buoy prompted them to contact the French Coastguard, but the vessel was reported to have been in dry dock for the last month, with no reports of equipment lost. No vessels were reported as overdue with Ramsgate Port Control, and no vessels had lost equipment or sunk in the area recently that could explain the debris, which now included nets and dead fish, as well as more fishing boxes.
At 17.20 Dover Coastguard requested the launch of the Dover RNLI lifeboat to assist in the search, which is expected to continue until nightfall.
Dover Coastguard Watch Manager Frank ONeill said:
The search conditions are not ideal, with mist and fog and the light quickly fading. Despite this, we will continue to search until it gets dark in order to eliminate the possibility that the equipment found has come from a vessel in distress.
