Early morning rescue call out for Larne RNLI crew

The crew was paged at 12.45am to a ship’s ex-lifeboat with two people onboard who had reported machinery failure approximately six miles south-east of Muck Island.

Larne RNLI lifeboat crew managed to locate them with the help of radar and VHF radio. Arriving on scene, one of the lifeboat crew members boarded the craft to assess the situation and establish a tow to the lifeboat. The vessel was then taken to Carrickfergus marina and transferred into the care of the coastguard.

The lifeboat crew then returned to the station at 4am.

Larne RNLI lifeboat mechanic Rab Rice said: “This was an early call out for the crew, who are largely made up of volunteers. After dealing with the callout many of them only got a couple of hours of sleep and then had to head off to work.

“Good teamwork ensured that the vessel was taken undertow quickly and brought to safety without incident,” he said.