Busy afternoon for Southend’s Lifeboat crews with five calls for help

The first call for Southend Lifeboat Atlantic 85 crew was to an inflatable toy drifting towards Canvey Island, although the crew were unable to locate it.

Returning from an exercise in Old Leigh, the crew came across a sailing dinghy off the Essex Yacht Club, aboard which one of the two crew members was suffering from deep lacerations on his head.

Medical assistance was given, the crew transferred onto the lifeboat and taken to shore with one of the lifeboat crew sailing the vessel in to the slipway.

Just east of the pier, the crew were alerted to a drifting inflatable dinghy with two persons on board. Initially they declined assistance, but after some advice the occupants were taken on board and transferred to the slipway by the inshore boathouse.

The final call for the lifeboat was to a sailing dinghy at Thorpe Bay where yacht club safety boats were attending a laser dinghy with a snapped boom. The two occupants were taken on board the lifeboat and the dinghy towed to the yacht club slipway.

Then the RNLI Rescue Hovercraft was launched from the shore boathouse at 7.39pm following a report to HM Coastguard of a person on the mud to the west of the pier, having difficulty getting ashore. After a search of the area, with nothing untoward to be seen, the crew were stood down and the hovercraft returned to the boathouse for a wash down and refuel.

RNLI media contacts

• Brian Wood - Southend Lifeboat Station Volunteer Assistant Lifeboat Press Officer. Tel- 07789 817915, [email protected]
• RNLI media contacts
• Paul Dunt - Regional Media Officer (South East) on 0207 620 7426, 07785 296252. [email protected]
• For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer on 01202 336789

Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

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Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.