Fishing vessel from Paimpol sank off the Lizard - five rescued

AIS track from #VesselTracker showing the final route of the crabber Panamera from Paimpol

Five members from the "Panamera" have been winched to safety after their ship sank in stormy conditions off the Cornish coast on Nov 3, 2013. The Falmouth Coastguard was first contacted just before 1 a.m. by the French Coastguard, who reported that the fishing vessel which had come from Saint-Brieuc was taking on water 78 miles NNE of Brest, and their pumps weren't coping. The RNLI Lizard all-weather lifeboat along with the Royal Navy search and rescue helicopter from Culdrose were sent to the scene. Falmouth Coastguard also issued a mayday relay broadcast, to see if any vessels in the area could help. Two tankers responded to this message and went to the "Panamera". They positioned themselves around the boat to provide shelter while waiting for the search and rescue units to arrive. The wind at the time was a gale force 8, gusting more than 40 mph, with a 4-5 metre swell. When the Royal Navy helicopter arrived on Scene at 3.15 a.m., they transferred another pump to the boat. It failed to help with the water ingress so the five crew decided to abandon their vessel and climbed into their liferaft. From there, they were winched on board the helicopter. The hoist was completed at 3.40 a.m., and they were taken back to Culdrose where they were delivered at 4.15 a.m. None of the five resuced were hurt or showing signs of hypothermia as they were all wearing survival suits.The "Panamera" has since sunk approximately 25 nautical miles south east of The Lizard. No debris was located on the surface, the two life rafts were recovered by the RNLI boats.     (14 hours ago, by Timsen