Lifeboat arrives with stricken fishing vessel after 17 hour operation

March 3, 2017 at 2:15 am

Kirkwall Lifeboat arriving with the fv Sunrise at 1am.
(Picture: Craig Taylor)

Kirkwall Lifeboat arrived alongside Kirkwall Pier at 1am after a 17 hour call out which began at 8am on Thursday, making it one of the longest call outs in the history of the station.

The call out, in 45 knot winds at times, also earlier involved the Longhope Lifeboat, which returned to station earlier in the evening.

Coxswain of Kirkwall Lifeboat Fraser Retson said that the weather and sea conditions had made it a difficult tow at times, but said that the crew of the lifeboat did a “sterling job” during the operation.

Skipper of the Sunrise, Andrew Stephen, said that he was very grateful for the RNLI assistance during the operation, saying they had done a great job.

He said that he refused the tow from the Coastguard tug as he did not want to tie up the tug as well as the lifeboats in case it was needed elsewhere.The Coastguard tug earlier in the day turned away from the fishing boat, leaving many people questioning as to why.

The tug later left Orkney waters, heading to what is believed to be an incident off the Western Isles.

A short video of the vessels arriving can be found on The Orcadian Facebook page at: