West Sussex RNLI crew called to three separate incidents on bank holiday weekend

On Saturday, May 3,Shoreham RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat was called into action at 9.40am launching to a fishing trawler eight nautical miles south of Newhaven.

This was after cause for concern when its crew had not responded to the coastguard, from a fishing vessel along side it or to a horn sounding from another nearby vessel, the RNLI said.

A spokesperson for the RNLI said: “We pulled alongside and two lifeboat crew went aboard to find three crew all asleep with no one on watch.

“They were all ok and we returned to station. The pagers sounded again at 4.20pm and our all weather lifeboat launched to a 27ft angling boat six miles south of Shoreham with gearbox failure

“The coastguard requested the lifeboat tow the vessel to a safe place as it posed a possible danger to navigation.

“We towed the boat with three people on board to Shoreham.

“As this was happening, the inshore lifeboat then launched to two people on a paddleboard 400m offshore off Hove Lawns struggling in the water.

"When we arrived on scene, they had made it safely ashore.”

Shoreham RNLI launch authority Colin Scott added: “Our volunteer crews have had a busy Saturday with three launches to separate incidents, which we are pleased to say have all had a successful outcome.”