Tributes to veteran RNLI man Robert Wright

Tributes have been paid to a long-serving lifeboat volunteer who died after a suspected heart attack during a rescue operation.

Robert Wright was the second coxswain on the Pwllheli all-weather lifeboat in Gwynedd when he collapsed on Sunday evening after a call to aid a yacht.

He had been a crew member since 1970 and coxswain at Pwllheli from 1992 until 2013.

He became an MBE in 2008 for his services to the RNLI and the community.

Mr Wright fell ill just after the boat was launched to reach the grounded yacht and the crew administered treatment while the boat returned to the town's marina.

He was airlifted to hospital in Bangor, where it was confirmed he had died.

Cliff Thomas, lifeboat operations manager at Pwllheli, said: "Bob was a loyal, committed and strong personality at Pwllheli Lifeboat Station who led the crew for many years as coxswain.

"His father and grandfather both served before him and his great uncle was coxswain at the beginning of the 1900s. The sea was in his blood."

The RNLI's Matt Crofts described Mr Wright as "a larger than life character" who will be "greatly missed".