RNLI, partners rescue adrift fisherman in English Channel

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) station in Exmouth was called on to rescue a fisherman who had taken to his liferaft after his boat started to take on water in the English Channel off Budleigh Salterton on Friday, June 18.

Exmouth RNLI was tasked by HM Coastguard to deploy to the last reported location of the individual in Lyme Bay.

The fisherman was subsequently picked up out of the water by the crew of Smit-Cerne, a Boskalis-owned range safety vessel working under contract with the UK Ministry of Defence. He was later transfered to the Exmouth RNLI lifeboat and brought ashore.

The fisherman was uninjured and did not require medical treatment.

The fishing vessel eventually slipped beneath the waves.