1020/2024 - Possible person in water
28/02/2024
The Service responded to a call from CROSS Jobourg, following the discovery of a small vessel on the beach at Portbail. It was known that it had left St Helier the day before, but no further information was available and it could not be determined whether the vessel had been deliberately grounded, or had drifted onto shore after potentially losing its occupant at sea.
Due to the fog and low visibility in Guernsey, the crew had to consider whether it was practical to launch, in the knowledge that Guernsey airport was likely to remain unavailable for landing.
Having identified various alternate airports to land at, and given the uncertainty of what had happened to the occupant, the crew launched and carried out a search between and around Les Ecrehous and the French coast, before searching along the vessel’s probable route, and the South East coast of Jersey.
With nothing found after two hours of searching, Guernsey airport was still fogged out and the crew diverted to Jersey, where they had to stay overnight, returning to Guernsey first thing the following morning.
CIAS would like to thank Gama Aviation and The Somerville Hotel for their assistance, as well as the crew, their families and employers.
Diversions such as this are rare, but do happen from time to time, and unfortunately result in unplanned expenses. If you would like to make a donation towards these expenses, please click here.