The incident began at around 6pm when Jersey Coastguard received a 999 call from the vessel’s crew who had reported that they had lost power.
The Fire and Rescue Service inshore vessel was launched to search an area between St Catherine’s Breakwater and the Ecréhous reef. Soon after, the St Catherine RNLI and Jersey Lifeboat Association inshore lifeboats also arrived in the area.
A post on the RNLI Jersey Facebook page said: ‘Jersey Coastguard reported that the casualty had one flare left after firing off all their others.
‘Once on scene the crew on the Atlantic 85 ILB [RNLI vessel] launched one illumination flare and waited for the casualty to respond with their last remaining flare. That flare never came and the casualties were no longer contactable on their mobile phone.
Jersey Coastguard, who were coordinating the operation, also dispatched the Channel Islands Air Search aircraft – based in Guernsey – to search the area. A 16ft Orkney-type boat three miles north of the Ecréhous was quickly found by the aircrew.
The two people on the stricken vessel, who were both showing signs of hypothermia and shock, were picked up by the RNLI vessel and taken to St Catherine where they were assessed by paramedics. The JLA vessel towed the Orkney boat back to the Island.
