Rescue mission

Reported at 10.23 this morning
Aberdeen Coastguard is coordinating the safe return of the fishing vessel Ulysses which was taking in water and losing power this morning off the far North West coast of Scotland. The Coastguard Rescue helicopter airlifted Coastguard pumps on board which have kept the vessel afloat.

At 6.30am Aberdeen Coastguard was contacted by the skipper of the fishing vessel Ulysses reporting they were suffering a serious ingress of water, were losing power and their pumps could not keep up. Aberdeen Coastguard immediately sent the Coastguard Rescue helicopter Mike Uniform (pictured below) from Stornoway to the scene with pumping equipment and Thurso RNLI all weather lifeboat. Another fishing vessel in the area went to assist the Ulysses which was in difficulty seven miles off the mouth of Loch Eriboll. The crew of the fishing vessel prepared for the worst and made ready their emergency equipment; life raft, EPIRB and were wearing life jackets. The Durness Coastguard Rescue Team were keeping a watch on the incident from the shoreline and reporting in to Aberdeen Coastguard.

The winchman from the Coastguard Rescue helicopter went down onto the deck of Ulysses with the Coastguard pumps which are now working to keep the vessel afloat and the helicopter has returned to Stornoway. Thurso RNLI all weather lifeboat is escorting Ulysses along the coast this morning to make repairs at Scrabster.

Ulysses is a 20m fishing vessel registered in Banff, with four crew and was returning from fishing grounds when she got into difficulty. The weather conditions are winds force 6 with a moderate sea.