Twenty-three people rescued from sinking boat off coast of Pembrokeshire

Twenty-three people have been rescued from a sinking boat off the coast of Pembrokeshire.

The coastguard said it got a mayday message from a small pleasure boat at about 7 pm.

The boat had begun taking water rapidly whilst on a trip off the North Bishops, near Ramsey Island.

The Coastguard said two other passenger boats, two lifeboats and one of its own helicopters were involved in the rescue.

The two lifeboats provided safety cover whilst the passengers and crew were evacuated from the casualty vessel onto one of the other passenger vessels.

The 21 passengers and two crew are safe and were taken to St Justians where they were met by the St David’s Coastguard Rescue Team, the coastguard said.