Jersey RNLI save eight people including children in 'fast-paced rescue'

Eight people including four children were rescued from a vessel yesterday evening by RNLI Jersey (Tuesday 21 May).

Both the St Helier all-weather and inshore lifeboats assisted a French sailing vessel at 9:28 pm after it hit rocks south of the tanker berth.

The vessel had drifted onto a rock south of the reclamation site after a rope became entangled with the propeller.

A Ports of Jersey vessel recovered the grounded yacht just after 5am this morning.

The Coastguard called out both RNLI St Helier lifeboats, and the JLA inshore lifeboat, to the scene, where all eight people on board were safely recovered and brought back to the harbour.

The crews arrived 12 minutes after the team was alerted and found the vessel against the rocks, with some of the casualties already transferred to a liferaft and some on the rocks.

The children were taken back to the harbour whilst the remaining casualties were brought onto lifeboats and seen by the Jersey Coastguard and the Ambulance Service.

The incident was labelled a "fast-paced rescue" because of the proximity to the harbour.

Some of the casualties were taken to the hospital for precautionary checks while all vessels were assessed.

Jersey Coastguard arranged a hotel for the night, and the sailing boat was recovered and hoisted out of the water in the early hours of the morning.

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