Late-night sea drama off Portland (From Dorset Echo)

Late-night sea drama off Portland

1:00pm Friday 10th February 2012 in News By Laura Kitching

A 25-YEAR-OLD fisherman was taken to hospital with a head injury after a rescue involving the Navy, coastguard and Weymouth lifeboat.

The Belgian boat ‘Custos Deus’ was fishing around 16 miles south of Portland when the crew member was struck on the head by a lifting hook causing a nasty cut.

Portland Coastguard were alerted to the drama at around 8.15pm on Wednesday evening when the Belgian vessel, with seven people on board, made contact to request medical advice.

Following a ‘radio connect call’ to a duty doctor at Queen Alexandra hospital, Portsmouth, it was decided that the nearby British warship HMS Lancaster, who had offered assistance, would proceed to attend.

A medic from the warship boarded the fishing vessel to administer first aid but it was felt that the injury should be checked by a doctor in hospital.

Due to the size of the vessel it would have had difficulty with a berth in Weymouth Harbour so Weymouth RNLI All Weather Lifeboat was launched to meet with the trawler and transfer the casualty to an ambulance.

Weymouth lifeboat arrived on scene at 11.50pm and the casualty was taken to shore, arriving at 12.30am yesterday morning.

Weymouth RNLI station mechanic Phil Hansford was among the lifeboat crew involved in the rescue.

He said: “It was dark but the sea conditions were quite good, ideal for a boat transfer.

“The fishermen were very thankful, obviously they’d had a medic from the warship on board earlier on that evening who had patched him up.

“The medic was happy the casualty wasn’t showing any signs of sickness but being out on a boat he couldn’t tell how deep the cut was.”

Weymouth RNLI press officer Ken Francis said: “Weymouth RNLI all-weather lifeboat launched on Wednesday at 11.20pm to a Belgium fishing boat with a crew member with a head injury.

“The fishing boat ‘Custos Deus’ was fishing off Portland when the crew member was struck on the head by a lifting hook causing a nasty cut.

“Weymouth lifeboat arrived on scene at 11.50pm and the causality was transferred across and taken back to shore arriving back at its berth at 12.20am.”

An ambulance met the lifeboat and took the 25-year-old casualty to Dorset County Hospital for a check up.