Night Call for Torbay RNLI

The RNLI volunteers at Torbay had an early morning alarm call when their pagers sounded at 01.45am this morning (Wednesday 23 November). The Chief Officer of a passing merchant ship had been taken ill and needed to be transferred ashore for medical assistance.

The ship was 32 miles off Brixham when the RNLI volunteers were raised from their beds to help evacuate the man who had been taken ill.

In calm conditions with a slight swell, the lifeboat crew met up with the vessel 22 miles from harbour and RNLI crew volunteer, Gary Fletcher who is also a Paramedic, was transferred onboard.

The man, who was able to walk, was then transferred to the Torbay Severn class all-weather lifeboat Alec and Christina Dykes and taken back to Brixham where the lifeboat was met by a land ambulance crew.

Mark Criddle, RNLI Coxswain at Torbay, said it was another example of the commitment of his team: