2:00pm Tuesday 7th July 2009
By Mike Miners
TWO men were dramatically rescued from the sea after their boat run aground on a sandbank, ten miles off shore.
Lifeboat crews were dispatched after a 22-foot motor boat, called Storm, got into trouble in an area, known locally as West Barrow Sands.
Rescuers, who were faced with dangerous high winds, took about half-an-hour to find the two men, from Basildon, who had earlier set sail from Leigh.
They quickly got a towline onboard and used pumps to empty the boat which was filling up with water.
A bigger rescue boat, from Kent, soon arrived to pull Storm clear of the sand.
Lifeboatman Gary Weeks, 43, of Woodgrange Drive, Southend, said: “From the pier head it took 20 minutes to get to their last known position and then we had to search for them from there.
“The tide was at its lowest, a very treacherous time, and the boat was being bashed against the sand bank and would have quickly broken-up leaving the men about ten miles from shore.
“The men, who must have been in their thirties or forties had partners waiting for them on shore and they asked us to tell them they’d been rescued, which we did.”
Water was continually pumped from the boat to keep it afloat as rescue crews took around three hours to it safely back to Leigh.
The entire rescue operation lasted around five hours, ending at about 12.30am yesterday.
Southend RNLI spokesman Den Freeman added: “The blue and white vessel had lost the rudder and had broken the transom (back of boat).
“The crew had to battle through Force 6 easterly winds to get to the boat which was already taking on water by the time we got there.
“Any later, if darkness had stopped us finding them, they could have lost their lives.”
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