Boat run aground on rocks sinks overnight

Members of the coastguard had to wade out to rescue the pilot of a boat which had run aground on rocks off East Sussex on Tuesday evening.

Teams from HM Coastguard Bexhill and Hastings attended the incident after multiple 999 calls reported seeing the vessel "listing heavily close to the shoreline" off Hastings.

However, after it was agreed to leave the uninjured occupant on board overnight to "attempt refloating the boat on the morning high tide", it began sinking during the early hours of Wednesday.

When they were recalled to the scene, a coastguard spokesperson said teams found "the skipper had safely abandoned the vessel and swum ashore".

"Initial reports (on Tuesday) suggested there could be people on board, although the number of occupants was unknown," they added.

"On arrival, we located a white sloop aground on the rocks and, with appropriate shoreside safety measures in place, a wading party carefully made its way across the water and onto the reef to reach it."

The spokesperson said they found "a single occupant inside, carried out welfare checks and obtained the vessel's details".

"After discussing the situation, the person chose to remain on board with the intention of attempting refloatation on the early morning high tide," they added.

But at 01:24 BST on Wednesday, the call came in that "the situation had deteriorated and the vessel had begun to sink".

With the person on board having already swum to shore safely, the coastguard "obtained details of the vessel's contents to ensure there were no hazardous materials on board that could pose a risk to the environment or other water users".

The spokesperson said the incident had been met with "a great multi-agency response".

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