May 10, 2018 2.48 pm This story is over 70 months old

Sailor rescued off Lincolnshire coast

Dutch man taken to hospital by helicopter.
A Team Van Oord vessel rescued a Dutch man off the Lincolnshire Coast. Photo: Team Van Oord

A 57-year-old Dutch sailor was rescued by a vessel off the Lincolnshire coast.

The crew of a Van Oord vessel, Hopper Dredger ‘Ham 316’, were deployed off the coast for the £7 million Lincolnshire Beach Management Project.

The vessel was at anchor just after 4am on May 4, when a man in a yacht who was distressed and unwell required assistance.

The Van Oord crew took the man onboard their vessel and called the coastguard, who sent out an RNLI Lifeboat from Skegness and a rescue helicopter from Humberside Airport.

Photos from Team Van Oord’s rescue mission where a man was saved off the Lincolnshire Coast. Photo: Team Van Oord

The man was taken to Boston Pilgrim Hospital by helicopter at around 7am before being discharged as ‘fit’ later the same morning.

The lifeboat towed the man’s yacht to Grimsby Port where he was later reunited with it.

Pieter Vis, Master of the HAM 316, said: “The crew assisted admirably in administering patient care and in supporting the lifeboat and helicopter crews, and we are all delighted that the skipper appears to have made a full recovery.”

Lincolnshire Beach Management project

The Lincolnshire Beach Management project, which began on April 30, involves the raising of beach levels lost naturally to the sea.

Sand is dredged from a designated offshore location using a Trailing Suction Hopper Dredger before it is pumped to the shore via a floating pipeline.

Team Van Oord are leading the Environment Agency-led project which will see around 400,000 cubic metres of sand pumped onto Lincolnshire’s beaches to reduce flood risk to more than 20,000 homes and businesses, 24,500 static caravans and 35,000 hectares of land.