Lymington lifeboat crew pull man from water
Yesterday afternoon (28 July 2017) the volunteer crew of the Lymington lifeboat were called out to reports of a drifting boat with no one on board, they found the exhausted casualty hanging on to a buoy.
The lifeboat crew were called out just after 4:30pm to reports of a small boat drifting 1.5 miles to the east of Lymington River with no one on board. Just before they got to the boat the helm of the lifeboat spotted someone in the water hanging on to a buoy, this turned out to be the only occupant of the drifting boat.
The man, believed to be in his mid-20s, had fallen from his boat and managed to hold on to the buoy for 35 minutes. Fortunately he was wearing a lifejacket and a kill cord which stopped the boats engine when he fell out.
The volunteer crew lifted the casualty into the lifeboat and took him back to Lymington before returning to recover his boat. Back at Lymington Lifeboat Station the casualty was warmed up and seen by the waiting ambulance crew.
Nick Hayward, Lifeboat Operations Manager said:
‘Having been in the water for that long the young man said to the crew that he was just going to let go as he could not hang on any more.
‘Had he done that he would have been swept out through the Hurst Narrows and this would have been a different story. We’re really glad we were able to reach him in time.’
Note:
There are not pictures or video available of this incident.
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