Scarborough RNLI responds to mayday call from guard vessel

Scarborough RNLI's all-weather lifeboat launched in the middle of last night to a mayday call from a 25m guard vessel.

It happened at 69 nautical miles out to sea at around 2.45am when the vessel had engine failure, was taking on water and was struggling against the weather.

The RNLI said:

"Fortunately, the crew of four managed to repair the engine and the lifeboat returned to base at 9am.

"Guard vessels are used to protect oil and gas platforms and other installations at sea, making sure other vessels keep clear.

"A Mayday call is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by mariners and aviators. Convention requires the word be repeated three times in a row during the initial emergency declaration ("Mayday mayday mayday") to prevent it being mistaken for some similar-sounding phrase under noisy conditions, and to distinguish an actual mayday call from a message about a mayday call."

First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Hits Radio app.

• scarborough rnli
• RNLI
• scarborough