In the early hours of Tuesday morning, a Fraserburgh-registered fishing boat called Odyssey sent a distress call to coastguards in the North Sea. The boat was approximately 140 miles east of the Firth of Forth when it started to experience difficulties. The coastguard immediately responded to the emergency signal by deploying a search and rescue helicopter from Norway and sending out a broadcast to nearby vessels for support.
Fortunately, all six crew members who were on board at the time of the incident are safe and well, and have since been rescued from their liferaft by another fishing boat. The crew were able to evacuate the sinking boat before it capsized completely. According to the Coastguard statement, “No-one was reported missing and the crew will be brought to shore by another vessel.”
An emergency position-indicating radio beacon (Epirb) registered to the Odyssey alerted the coastguard to the situation. The HM Coastguard also send out a fixed-wing aircraft to assist in the search and rescue. The Odyssey fishing boat has since sunk but its crew have all been accounted for and are safe. The cause of the boat’s technical issue and subsequent sinking is unknown, but the coastguard will likely conduct an investigation into the incident.
In summary, early responders were notified of the Odyssey fishing trawler’s distressing situation after receiving an emergency signal from the boat on Tuesday morning. The immediate response from the coastguard saw a search and rescue operation launched to locate the boat. Luckily, all six crew members were rescued from their liferaft, and nobody was reported missing in the aftermath of the incident. The cause of the boat sinking has yet to be determined and may be the subject of an investigation
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