St Lucia – Boat accident:

SEA RESCUE – St Lucia – Monday, 5 April. Boat Accident:Correction: Incident occurred Monday, 5 April:Jan Hoffman, NSRI St Lucia station commander, said:On Monday, 5 April, while preparing to go fishing on my private boat at St Lucia I was on the beach about to launch my private vessel when at 07h05 I witnessed a surf launch of a local boat that appeared to get into difficulty in heavy surf.A private boat had launched and the boat had punched through three large backline breaking waves causing the boats T-Top to collapse.The 4 men onboard could be seen to be flung around on the boat.The skipper of the boat immediately radioed Beach control requesting permission to beach and reporting crew members on his boat injured.I spoke to them over the radio and realising the gravity of the situation I activated our NSRI St Lucia duty crew and I requested Netcare 911 to dispatch medical support to the beach.On the casualty boat beaching I found that one crew member had sustained a fractured leg, one crew member had sustained a dislocated shoulder and one crew member had a sprained ankle.The Skipper was not injured but he was in shock.NSRI St Lucia first responders stabilized the injured crew and assisted in loading the casualty craft onto her trailer, with the injured still on the boat, and we drove them to the parking lot where the Netcare 911 paramedics were arriving.The 3 casualty men were taken into the care of the paramedics and they were transported to hospital for further care.No further assistance was required.NSRI commend the local fishermen who assisted on the scene.