Pair rescued from drifting dinghy

Monday 06 January 2025

Two people have been rescued after clinging to the hull of an upturned dinghy in "difficult wind and tide conditions" this afternoon.

The pair had gone out in their dinghy, which then capsized south of St Martin’s Point.

One of them dialled 999 from their mobile to ask for help, shortly after 14:15 today.

Both the St Peter Port All Weather Lifeboat and the Inshore Lifeboat were sent to the scene, while Herm Trident VI was asked to divert to St Martin’s Point on its return from Herm to Guernsey. The volunteer crew of the Channel Islands Air Search was also paged to launch.

As Trident VI was already at sea when the distress call was made, it was the first on scene but unfortunately the crew were unable to locate the upturned dinghy or the two people.

However, both were rescued shortly afterwards following a brief search of the area by both Trident and the Inshore Lifeboat.

Both people were recovered from the water and were taken to St Peter Port by the Inshore Lifeboat where they were met by paramedics who checked them over and found them to be cold but otherwise uninjured.

Search Mission Coordinator James Way said: “This was a successful search and rescue operation in challenging conditions. We would like to thank the master of Trident VI for his support today as well as the volunteer crews of our Lifeboats.”

Pictured top: File image of Travel Trident (inset).