Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboat crews around the coast of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight were kept busy in 2015, according to figures released by the charity today (Wednesday).
Collectively, crew from the 7 lifeboat stations in the area launched 392 times last year to attend a wide range of incidents including commercial vessels in trouble, adrift fishermen, struggling swimmers and leisure boaters in difficulty. Overall RNLI lifeboat volunteers in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight rescued 487 people. Of those, 8 were classed as lives saved – a specific RNLI criteria where a person would have died if not for the RNLI lifeboat arriving on scene.
Bembridge RNLI launched a total of 39 times in 2015 and rescued 65 people, whilst on the other side of the Island Yarmouth RNLI launched 38 times and rescued 83 people. Cowes RNLI launched 55 times and rescued 48 people. Out of the 3 stations no lives were saved.
Keith Colwell, RNLI Community Incident Reduction Manager in the South, said:
“Once again our volunteer lifeboat crews have had a busy 12 months working hard to serve their local communities. They willingly down tools and drop everything to respond to an emergency call for help day or night, come rain or shine.
“Over the past year the RNLI has also been working hard to prevent people from getting into danger, whether that is through lifejacket clinics or our Respect the Water campaign. We understand that things can go wrong from time, so some preventative maintenance and annual checks prior to the boating season should allow for worry free sea time.
“I would like to thank all of our volunteers for their tireless hard work and dedication throughout the past 12 months. Without all of our supporters, fundraisers, crews and education teams our lifesaving service would not operate”.
Notable rescues around the coast of Hampshire and Isle of Wight included Yarmouth lifeboat being called out to the aid of a classic motor boat with a serious engine fire. The boat was once used in a car chase scene in The James Bond film ‘From Russia with Love’. Read the full story, as reported by Island Echo, here.
