MULTI-AGENCY SEARCH TO FIND CRASHED BOAT IN THE NORTH WIGHT PROVES FRUITLESS

A search by land, sea and air to find a ‘crashed boat’ last night was called off in the early hours of this morning (Sunday) after nothing was located. As first reported by Island Echo, several calls were made to Solent Coastguard yesterday evening at around 21:00 saying that a vessel had collided with the breakwater off East Cowes. Island Echo understands that the vessel – which had a blue hull – had a total of 4 passengers and crew on board when it was seen ‘crashing’. Coastguard Rescue Teams from Ventnor and Bembridge were quickly called to both sides of the Medina respectively, with Cowes RNLI paged from its nearby boathouse too. The Coastguard Helicopter was scrambled from its Lee-on-Solent base to assist in the efforts but despite searching the water off Cowes, East Cowes and a considerable length of the Medina, nothing was found. After some 3 hours of searching though, the operation was called off following no sightings of the involved vessel or any casualties.