Littlehampton RNLI leads rescue as dinghy with three on board capsizes near Pagham

Littlehampton RNLI led a rescue operation yesterday (June 21) after a dinghy with three people on board capsized near Pagham.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

At 6.12pm, the charity’s volunteers launched the station’s D Class lifeboat Ray of Hope, and the three person crew headed out of Littlehampton harbour directly in to a strong Force 6 westerly wind, which made for heavy going in the smaller of the station’s inshore lifeboats, an RNLI spokesman said.

They said: "With low tide at 6.15pm it was uncertain whether the larger B Class Renee Sherman would make it out of the harbour, but once the first lifeboat was underway and with casualties in the water, the second vessel was launched to assist in the rescue, carefully navigating its way through the shallow waters at the harbour entrance."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A crew from Selsey's RNLI station also was sent out, as was the Coastguard helicopter from Lydd in Kent.

A capsized dinghy led to a large-scale emergency responseA capsized dinghy led to a large-scale emergency response
A capsized dinghy led to a large-scale emergency response

Nick White, Lifeboat Operations Manager, said: “The sea conditions were rough which made for challenging conditions for our crew. Although visibility was good, reports of persons in the water is of great concern and we were keen to quickly get assistance to the scene.

"Heading directly in to a Force 6 wind impedes progress so we advised the Coastguard to task our RNLI colleagues at Selsey to launch.

"They were able to get to the incident ahead of us, although fortunately the three casualties were already ashore by this time.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The weather at the location of the capsize was slightly calmer than at Littlehampton, but was still very rough.

A capsized dinghy led to a large-scale emergency responseA capsized dinghy led to a large-scale emergency response
A capsized dinghy led to a large-scale emergency response

"Small inflatable boats, such as that recovered today, are not suitable craft in such sea conditions.”

While they were en route, a member of the public headed out from Pagham beach on their jet ski to help the three people in the water.

At 6.35pm it was confirmed that all three, two adults and a child, were now ashore.

The Selsey lifeboat crew recovered the remains of the dinghy and took it to Pagham Yacht Club, and the Coastguard helicopter stood down at 6.45pm.

Related topics: