A fisherman whose boat sank after hitting a buoy in the Solent was plucked to safety last night by a passing rescue helicopter.

The man, in his 20s, was taken to hospital with shock and hypothermia after being winched to safety from the Solent. He sent out a mayday at 2344 yesterday when his boat, Sea Raider, started sinking as he returned home to the Isle of Wight.
He was rescued by helicopter, diverted en route to a medical evacuation in Jersey.

A spokesman said: “He was pretty lucky that the helicopter was in the air at the time otherwise he would have been in the water a lot longer. It’s not so much the water temperature, which is about 7C, but the air temperature is pretty cold. Shock is a bigger killer than the water.”

Meanwhile, a Burmese sailor was seriously injured in a 40ft fall on board a cargo ship, 600 miles off the west coast of Ireland last night. He was airlifted to safety in an operation masterminded by RAF Kinross and involving two US Army long-range helicopters, a Hercules aircraft and an aircraft tanker from the US airbase at Lakenheath in Suffolk.

A RAF Nimrod provided air cover and communications. The crewman man suffered spinal and cranial injuries.