Fishing boat lost in dense fog found in 40cm of water

The callout in dense fog was the Redcar boat's 60th job of the year

A lifeboat crew used "every single navigational aid" available to find a fishing boat lost in dense fog and stranded in just 16in (40cm) of water.

The Redcar RNLI lifeboat was at a charity fundraising day in Staithes, North Yorkshire, when it was called at about 14:20 BST on Saturday.

The crew faced "a real navigational challenge" to find the fishing boat in time, lifeboat helm Nathan Hobday said.

They discovered it in "only 40cm of water" on the edge of West Scar.

"Visibility at times was down to 10m in front of the lifeboat and this call was one of the few occasions in my 13 years as crew that we had to utilise every single navigational aid on the lifeboat to locate the casualty vessel," Mr Hobday said.

The fishing boat was guided back to safety at Redcar beach.

Redcar's Atlantic 85 Leicester Challenge III lifeboat then returned to Staithes for the remainder of the fun day where it was involved in rescue demonstrations.

Redcar RNLI operations manager Mick Pickneet said it was the crew's 60th job of the year and it was a "real challenge because of the dense fog".

He said: "Regular training in navigation and search and rescue methods proved to be invaluable in helping to find the lost fishing vessel and this really highlights the professionalism and dedication shown by all our volunteer crew."