Fishermen saved from sinking vessel in dramatic rescue off Land's End

• Watch the HM Coastguard rescue footage

Four fishermen were saved after their boat hit rocks and began to sink in waters off Land's End.

The 24-metre Belgian vessel collided with the rocks near Porthgwarra last night (14 February), prompting the rescue mission.

The skipper of the Sylvia-Mary boat put out a mayday broadcast at around 6pm, alerting the coastguard.

An RNLI team from Sennen Cove and an HM Coastguard helicopter attended the scene where they found the four men stuck on the trawler boat, which had begun taking on water.

All of the fishermen were carried to dry land at Newlyn on a life raft.

An RNLI spokesperson said: "The crew of the fishing vessel made a mayday broadcast and abandoned their vessel earlier in the evening, taking to their life raft from which they were rescued by lifeboat just a short time later.

"The Sennen all-weather RNLI lifeboat was requested to launch by HM Coastguard and a Coastguard and a Royal Navy helicopter also assisted at the scene.

"All crew have been accounted for and are safe and well", they added.

A Royal Navy helicopter on a training exercise also spotted the sinking vessel and prepared to support the crews making the rescue in the water.

Lieutenant commander Steve Thomas, the senior pilot of the Naval Air Sqaudron, was in the air when he and his team were alerted to the incident.

“Sennen Lifeboat was reaching the scene at that point and it was clear that the fishing vessel was in a poor way", he said.

"The Belgian skipper was on the radio to the lifeboat and was being encouraged to get himself and his three crew into their life raft as the vessel was sinking rapidly.

“At the time we were about 15 miles away to the south east in Mounts Bay. I informed Falmouth Coastguard that we were proceeding to the scene and available for tasking if required.

“We monitored what was happening but there was not a great deal for us to do – the crew were now in their life raft and Sennen Lifeboat was collecting them.

"We witnessed the fishing vessel continue to rapidly sink. It became clear that the brave men and women of the RNLI had everything under control", he added.