Two Men Aged 72 & 73 Recovered From Water After Canoe Capsizes

Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Posted 12:28 GMT

At around quarter to two this afternoon, Solent Coastguard received a call from a skipper of a small commercial fishing boat who had pulled a man from the water off Bognor.

The man was very cold, and he was dragged from the water about a quarter of a mile from the shoreline at Middleton beach. A further man was also spotted attempting to swim ashore after briefly clinging to a nearby pot buoy after their 16 foot Discovery style motorized canoe had capsized approximately 0.5nm offshore.

Both Littlehampton RNLI inshore lifeboats were immediately requested to launch. One of the lifeboats subsequently pulled the second man from the water before delivering him to a waiting ambulance at a local slipway. The Littlehampton Coastguard Rescue Team were also sent to the area.

Both men were from the Felpham area and were aged 72 and 73 respectively. One man was wearing a non - inflating life - preserver over normal light weight clothing - the second was wearing a pull-chord style lifejacket which was not inflated. He was also wearing light weight clothing.

Mike OSullivan, Watch Manager at Solent Coastguard said

Both men were wearing normal clothing under life preserver / lifejacket, and the incident occurred 1/2nm offshore, so too far for either to make it ashore. The men were very well spotted by the crew of the fishing boat boat in very choppy conditions, where only their heads would have been intermittently visible

No-one intends to end up in the water, but as we all know, accidents can and do happen. Good training and common sense helps, but even so 11 boaters may have been saved last year alone, had they been wearing a correctly fitting and maintained lifejacket.

It is vital that you let a friend or family member ashore know what your intentions are and when you intend to return, so that they can inform the Coastguard.

Notes to Editors

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