North Shields fishing boat sinks after collision with cargo ship

The boat sank as it was being towed back to North Shields

A fishing boat has sunk after it collided with a cargo ship.

The distress call was raised by the skipper of the North Shields-based trawler on Sunday after the collision about a mile north of the Tyne piers.

The vessel's engine room flooded after it started taking on water and its two crew were evacuated, Tynemouth RNLI said.

It was decided to stop towing the boat back as it was so badly damaged and it sank soon after. Nobody was injured.

Tynemouth RNLI spokesman Adrian Don thanked other vessels in the area who helped with the rescue on Sunday afternoon.

"This was a potentially life-threatening situation and our volunteers responded as quickly as possible," he said.

"Emergencies at sea can quickly develop from being fairly routine to life threatening and this was a good example where the fishing boat needed to be abandoned in a hurry due to the water ingress increasing rapidly.

"We're thankful that no-one came to any harm and mindful that a tragedy was averted."