Land's End: Fishing crew rescued from sinking vessel

Sennen Cove Lifeboat returns to station after responding to the sinking fishing trawler

The crew of a Belgian fishing vessel that struck rocks and sank off Cornwall have been reported "safe and well", HM Coastguard has said.

A mayday broadcast was made after the vessel with four crew aboard crashed into rocks south of Land's End at about 18:00 GMT on Tuesday.

The crew abandoned their vessel and moved into its life raft.

They were rescued a short time later by members of the Sennen Cove RNLI.

A Coastguard rescue helicopter as well as a Royal Navy helicopter, which was on a training flight in the area, also responded to the mayday call.

The RNLI said the Sennen lifeboat arrived about 15 minutes after the mayday call.

A smaller boat was launched from the lifeboat as it was unable to make a safe approach because the fishing boat's trawler beams were deployed.

Lt Cdr Steve Thomas, from the Royal Navy, said its helicopter remained on standby in case the rescue mission turned awry.

Four crew members had to abandon their vessel and board a life raft after crashing into rocks off Land's End, Cornwall

"Sennen Lifeboat was reaching the scene at that point and it was clear that the fishing vessel was in a poor way," he said.

"The Belgian skipper was on the radio to the lifeboat and was being encouraged to get himself and his three crew into their life raft as the vessel was sinking rapidly.

"It became clear that the brave men and women of the RNLI had everything under control.

"There was good cooperation and we were able to provide overwatch in case things did not go well for the crew when abandoning ship."

RNLI volunteers took the crew to Newlyn Harbour for further assessment as they were wet and cold.

Penzance Coastguard Rescue Team and the Fisherman's Mission assisted the crew with welfare on arrival.