In less than one day, numerous emergency and volunteer services and members of the public have helped to search for a missing person, rescue an injured person from a boat, support a broken down vessel, and try to help a man believed to be drowning off Lihou.
In each case, Guernsey Coastguard said everyone involved played a vital part in ensuring successful outcomes.
The busy spell started on Friday when a person was reported missing and the Guernsey Coastguard Drone Team was sent to the south-west coast to help look for them. They were “located safely” by other means.
Shortly before midday, the Coastguard had also received a Mayday call from a vessel 25 miles west of Alderney with a crew member suffering “significant injuries” after falling over.
Their crew mates said this person may also have a serious underlying medical condition so the decision was made to call for help from other nearby vessels while the Alderney All Weather Lifeboat and a French Maritime Rescue helicopter made their way to the scene.
Luckily a boat was nearby and its crew was able to take the casualty aboard and they started making their way to Guernsey.
The French rescue helicopter arrived on the scene at around 13:00 and a paramedic was lowered onto the boat to start giving the patient treatment.
The decision was then made to move the casualty to the Alderney Lifeboat so it would be easier to winch them up to the helicopter to get them to Guernsey quicker. St John Ambulance met them at the airport and took them to the hospital, where their condition now is unknown to us.
The rest of the crew were able to make their way into St Peter Port Harbour where Coastguard Officers took them to the PEH.
On their way back to Alderney, the lifeboat crew helped another vessel, which had broken down six miles north of Alderney.
By the time it was towed into Braye Harbour, the lifeboat crew had been at sea for around six hours.
While they were busy answering their calls for help, the Guernsey lifeboat crew were sent to Lihou after a member of the public had called for help concerning a man “in waist-deep water” on the causeway as the tide came up.
The St Peter Port Inshore Lifeboat and the Coastguard Drone Team rushed to the scene at around 14:30, before it was confirmed that the man was fine and was staying in Lihou.
Duty Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator Simon Granger said it is always better to be safe than sorry, but this was a particularly busy afternoon for multiple agencies.
“This was a busy afternoon which involved numerous emergency response agencies from Guernsey, Alderney and France, and is a credit to the strong working relationships between the neighbouring rescue services,” he said.
“Following receipt of the distress call, Coastguard Officers in Guernsey quickly identified the seriousness of the situation and coordinated the deployment of the most appropriate rescue assets to the scene. The response was further assisted by a nearby vessel answering the Mayday Relay and recovering the casualty, which significantly reduced the time taken to get the patient closer to hospital care.
“I would like to thank everyone involved, from the Coastguard operators managing this and several other unfolding incidents, to the crew of the assisting vessel, the Alderney Lifeboat crew, the French rescue helicopter team, and the ambulance and airport staff who assisted with the casualty transfer.
“This coordinated multi-agency response ensured the casualty reached hospital care in the quickest possible timeframe.”
