At approximately ten past one this morning, Yarmouth Coastguard was called by the offshore standby vessel Putford Enterprise who reported that they were in contact with the 20m fishing vessel Fruitful Harvest III which was taking on water.
The vessel, with four crew on board, was approximately 35 miles North of Cromer, North Norfolk. Two of the vessels pumps had failed and the third was struggling. On scene weather was very poor, with winds of 45 knots gusting to 60 knots, and seas in excess of 6 metres.
RAF Rescue Helicopter 128 from Leconfield was sent to the scene with RNLI all-weather lifeboats from Cromer and Humber. All were carrying rescue pumps.
At approximately twenty minutes to three, Rescue 128 arrived on scene. Because weather conditions were too dangerous to lower a winchman they used a highline transfer to lower pumps to the Fruitful Harvest III. Shortly after three oclock, the pumps were successfully brought on board the vessel and the process of clearing the excess water began.
The vessel is now being escorted back into Grimsby by the Cromer and Humber lifeboats.
Watch Manager Mario Siano said:
I cannot praise highly enough the skill and dedication of all involved in tonights rescue in atrocious weather conditions. The crew of the Rescue Helicopter in particular have managed to drop a very heavy and unwieldy pump on the back of a fishing vessel in nearly 70mph winds. We would also like to extend our thanks to the crews of the standby vessels Putford Rover, Putford Enterprise and Putford Worker, who went out of their way to assist the search and rescue operation, not to mention the quick responses from our colleagues on the Cromer and Humber lifeboats.
