RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew members from Flint spent four hours rescuing two people and their boat, which had gone aground, on Monday (15 February) night.
Five men from Blacon had bought a boat in Holyhead, brought it by road to the Mostyn, Greenfield area, where they launched the craft to sail up river to Connahs Quay. Quite soon after launching the boat developed engine trouble. A passing boat took them in tow; the tow parted and around midday the boat with the five men onboard ran aground. Three managed to scramble ashore, leaving two onboard.
The alarm was raised but, because of the state of the tide, the boat could not be refloated until high water. Liverpool Coastguard requested assistance from Flint RNLI lifeboat – the volunteer crew were paged at 9.30pm, and launched at Greenfield; they were alongside the casualty at 9.45. One of occupants was very cold – he was taken ashore, wrapped in blankets and given warm drinks.
The other refused to leave the boat. With the assistance of the RNLI lifeboat and shore crew the boat was refloated around midnight. It was then towed to Connahs Quay, where it was safely moored. The remaining occupant on the boat was taken onboard the lifeboat. The lifeboat was recovered at Connahs Quay Ski Club at 1.15am, and the lifeboat returned to Flint lifeboat station at 1.30.
Alan Forrester, RNLI Volunteer Lifeboat Operations Manager, said, “It was an extremely cold night – we were even scraping ice off the lifeboat Landrover windscreen. I can’t praise the crew enough – it was a long service in cold conditions. All their training came into play, particularly first aid, as we were dealing with casualties who were very cold, having been on the river for almost 12 hours; it also helped that one of the crew members was a doctor.”
Alan continued, “Even when we got back to the lifeboat station there was still work to do: the lifeboat and other equipment had to be washed down. It was 2am when we finished; we got to bed about 2.30 and some of the crew were up again at five o’clock for work.”
