MAN OVERBOARD REPORTED TO YARMOUTH COASTGUARD

Yarmouth Coastguard received a call from the cargo ferry `Sarawak’ on 16 July 2001 that a 48-year-old crewman had fallen from the vessel earlier in the day and that they were now backtracking along their path in an effort to locate him.

The 160-metre vessel was on a regular cargo run from Teesport to Flushing and the missing man was reported at 12:50 p.m. He had last been seen at 8.30 a.m. that morning.

A search was co-ordinated by Yarmouth Coastguard along the 60 – 70 mile track taken by the vessel and 3 lifeboats from Cromer; Humber and Wells were launched to assist. Two helicopters – from Leconfield and Wattisham - also searched, and were joined by a Nimrod aircraft from RAF Kinloss.

A Royal Naval vessel joined the search with fast patrol boats, and two standby vessels `Toisa Lion’ and `Putford Rover’ were also utilised.

Colin Tomlinson, District Controller at Yarmouth Coastguard said, "It is a fact that a single person in the water doesn’t move very far and therefore we are concentrating our search within the track of the vessel from the man’s last known sighting to the time they reported his loss. We estimate that the water temperature is about 14 degrees Celsius at present and chances of survival are about six hours at this time of year.