One man has died and two others are missing after a 5.5m speedboat overturned
A man’s body has been found and two other men are missing following a tragic speedboat accident off the coast of Lowestoft.
Humber Coastguard began coordinating the major search off Lowestoft yesterday afternoon after receiving a 999 call from a member of the public just before 2pm.
The call reported a person in the water and an overturned boat at Ness
Point.
RNLI Lifeboats from Lowestoft, Southwold and Gorleston attended, along with
Lowestoft and Gorleston Coastguard rescue teams, Suffolk Police, and an RAF search and rescue helicopter from Wattisham.
A commercial windfarm vessel which was in the area also assisted.
A Humber Coastguard spokesman said one body was recovered about 500 yardsoff Lowestoft at 2.24pm and two other men are still missing.
He said: ‘It appears to be a 5.5m speedboat type with an outboard.’
Michael Oakes, divisional operations manager for the RNLI, said: ‘Our lifeboats launched as soon
as we were requested and carried out an extensive search of the area.
‘Our volunteers, trained in casualty care, gave assistance to the man
they recovered from the water as they sped back to the harbour to pass
him into the care of the ambulance crew.
‘However, we later learned that
he was pronounced dead and we are all extremely saddened to hear this.
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of that gentleman at this
very difficult time.
‘Naturally, our lifeboat crews remain on
hand to launch and assist in any further searches should the coastguard
require our assistance. In the meantime we can only hope that there were
no other people on board the speedboat.’
Extensive searches along shoreline
The overturned boat was recovered by coastguard rescue officers and fire crews. A thorough search of the area was carried out yesterday afternoon and evening, but nothing else found. The search was stood down at 12.40am.
This morning, coastguard rescue teams from Lowestoft and Southwold completed a shoreline search at low water, with assistance from Gorleston inshore lifeboat. Resources have been stood down and there are no plans for any further searches.
The coastguard spokesman added: ‘There is likely to be an investigation by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), until then it’s just speculation as to what happened.’