Fishermen rescued by cruise ship after boat sank in North Sea, two still missing

The Pacific Princess cruise ship saw a distress flare in the North Sea and rescued three of the fishermen, while the coastguard searches for two more.

The Pacific Princess cruise ship was sailing in the North Sea when the captain spotted a distress flare. Three fishermen in a life raft were rescued by the ship after their fishing boat sank 25 miles from Great Yarmouth.

Passengers on the Pacific Princess applauded as the three fishermen were rescued. However, two further fishermen are still missing and the coastguard was alerted to search for them. The coastguard is using a helicopter and other vessels in their search for the missing men.

Pacific Princess passenger tells the story

The BBC quotes Teena Dowd, one of the cruise ship’s passengers from Canada who is who watched the rescue as it happened. Dowd said that at around 6:30 PM, the captain made an announcement to say the ship was stopping, as there was a life raft floating off the cruise ship’s starboard side. Within an hour of being spotted, the men were helped onto the ship.

Dowd said other worried passengers lined the railing of the ship, breaking into applause as the fishermen were rescued from their lifeboat. She said they were on the top deck and everyone was pretty much holding their breath and anxious as the rescue unfolded.

Dowd said the ship’s crew threw a rope out to the lifeboat to enable them to pull it closer to the ship. They then extended a ladder down to the men, so they could climb up onto the deck. One man reportedly fell back into the water as he tried to climb the ladder and had to be pulled back onto the raft before a further, more sturdy ladder was extended down to the life raft.

According to Dowd, the captain had initially said the cruise ship was going to float next to the life raft to block the wind until the Coastguard arrived. However, they managed to get close enough to rescue the men. The cruise ship remained in the area for approximately an hour before the Coastguard took the men on board. The ship then continued its journey to Dover.

Search and rescue helicopter launched

As reported by ITV, the Coastguard operations controller, Lee Duncan said they launched a search and rescue helicopter from Humberside. They said they also launched RNLI lifeboats from Gorleston, as well as other Coastguard vessels to help with the search for the two missing men.

According to Duncan, the crew of the fishing boat consisted of foreign nationals. He said the three rescued men spent four hours in the life raft before being spotted by the cruise ship. Duncan went on to say they believe the two missing crew of the fishing boat were seen entering the water