Southend inshore lifeboat launched to assist kitesurfer rescued by workboat

Assasin was returning to Old Leigh, from a job at the deep water anchorage, when her crew luckily spotted the kitesurfer, drifting on the edge of the shipping lane approx two miles offshore, east of the pier.

The kitesufer, who was suffering from hyperthermia and shock, reported that he had been in the water for nearly four hours.

The inshore lifeboat crew rendezvoused with the supply vessel Assasin just off the pier head, transferred the casualty aboard the inshore lifeboat and ferried him safely inshore to the lifeboat station, where the casualty was met and treated by paramedics before being transferred to hospital by ambulance.

The inshore lifeboat was washed down, refuelled and made ready for service.

RNLI media contacts:

• Denis Freeman - Southend Lifeboat Station Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer. Tel - 07710406661, [email protected]
• Paul Dunt, Press Officer(London/ South East) Tel- 0207 6207426 / 07785296252 [email protected]
• For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer on 01202 336789

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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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