At 2330 Monday evening Falmouth Coastguard received a request from their colleagues in Madrid to coordinate the urgent evacuation of a seriously injured Spanish fisherman 147 nautical miles south west of the Isles of Scilly.
A Royal Navy rescue helicopter from 771 Squadron RNAS Culdrose was scrambled, with safety cover provided by an RAF Nimrod maritime patrol aircraft from RAF Kinloss in Scotland.
The 44 year old crewman had suffered a severe abdominal injury when he was struck by a cable when a shackle broke. He was winched from the fishing vessel Pescaberbes Tres in westerly gale force winds at 0400 Tuesday morning. Unfortunately the casualty suffered a cardiac arrest while in the helicopter and despite significant Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation by the crew, the man died before arriving at Treliske hospital in Cornwall.
Andy Cattrell, Watch Manager at Falmouth Coastguard says,
This incident was carried out with the cooperation of our colleagues at MRCC Madrid who provided communications support due to language difficulties, the team at RAF Kinloss and of course the crew of the Nimrod aircraft and the rescue helicopter of 771 Squadron who carried out the rescue in very difficult weather conditions. Sadly, despite the best efforts of everyone involved, this incident did not have the outcome we would have liked.
