Fishermen are airlifted to safety

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Four fishermen were rescued by the crew of an RAF Lossiemouth helicopter after their boat sank in the North Sea.

The crew of the Evening Star told coastguards that they were abandoning ship at 1530 GMT on Saturday, about 40 miles east of Peterhead.

The skipper alerted Aberdeen Coastguard at 1430 GMT when the Buckie-registered boat started taking on water.

An RNLI lifeboat from Peterhead and the RAF Lossiemouth helicopter were involved in the rescue operation.

The helicopter crew spotted the fishermen in a life raft at about 1545 GMT. It took about 25 minutes for the rescuers to get all four on board.

Flown to hospital

Aberdeen Coastguard said paramedics checked the men over and all appeared to be well, although they were being flown to a hospital in Aberdeen for check-ups.

Weather conditions in the area were reported to be up to 25 knots of westerly wind with a swell of about 10ft at the time of the sinking.

Bill Smith, watch officer at Aberdeen Coastguard, said: "The rescue operation for the Evening Star went cleanly."

A marine accident investigation is expected to be launched into the sinking.