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Man dies after boat sinks off south coast, with two missing feared dead | |
(35 minutes later) | |
One man has died and two more are missing, feared dead, after a boat sank off the south coast of England. | |
A major search and rescue operation was launched after the vessel went down off Shoreham, West Sussex, early on Sunday. The alarm was raised shortly before 6am when a fourth man was discovered by a fishing boat crew “clinging to a buoy” two miles west of the town’s harbour, the coastguard said. | |
It is thought the man, a 45-year-old from London, believed to be Romanian, could have been in the Channel for several hours. He was brought ashore and taken to hospital suffering from the effects of the cold. | |
Matt Pavitt, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s south-east coastal operations area commander, told the BBC: “Anybody who spends that length of time, numerous hours potentially, in the sea without any protective equipment – at this time of year it’s a nice day but the sea is still cold – is very, very lucky to be alive.” | Matt Pavitt, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s south-east coastal operations area commander, told the BBC: “Anybody who spends that length of time, numerous hours potentially, in the sea without any protective equipment – at this time of year it’s a nice day but the sea is still cold – is very, very lucky to be alive.” |
Up to 15 boats and ships, aided by two coastguard helicopters from Lydd and Lee-on-the-Solent, were involved in the search before it was suspended on Sunday afternoon. | |
They included lifeboats from Shoreham and Brighton and about 10 vessels from the nearby Rampion offshore wind farm. Coastguard rescue teams from Shoreham and Littlehampton were also involved. | |
“Following an extensive search of the area using multiple assets nothing further has been found at this time so the decision has been made to suspend the search pending further information,” said Andy Jenkins, a coastguard controller. “A review of the incident details will be ongoing through the rest of the day.” | |
An investigation involving the Marine Accident Investigation Branch has been launched. | An investigation involving the Marine Accident Investigation Branch has been launched. |
Pavitt said it would look into suggestions that the boat, thought to have set off from Brighton marina with four people on board, collided with another vessel, but that it was too early to confirm what happened. He said that whatever did occur had been very quick, as “there was no distress call, no one raised the alarm until the chap was found this morning”. | |
A Sussexpolice spokesman said: “It is believed that [the man taken to hospital] was with three other men on a boat out of Brighton marina. The body of one man has been recovered from the sea and brought ashore by coastguard helicopter. A search of sea and coastline is under way to find any survivors.” | |
“It is thought that the boat may have left Brighton marina around midnight and the incident may have happened a couple of hours later, but the facts are not clear at this time.” | “It is thought that the boat may have left Brighton marina around midnight and the incident may have happened a couple of hours later, but the facts are not clear at this time.” |
The body of the dead man was found at about 8.15am. The search also took in beaches between Brighton and Worthing on the Sussex coast. | |