Crew Rescued From Damaged Tugboat Off Torbay

[UPDATE]

The tug Christos XXII, damaged after the vessel it was towing collided into its side off Torbay yesterday, is now stable with risk of pollution very low.

Attention has now turned to the towed vessel, an ex-German Naval training ship the Emsstrom, which had been listing too heavily for salvors to get onboard. This vessel has now sunk, approximately 2.5 nautical miles east by north from Hopes Nose, Torquay in 23 metres of water. 

This ship is empty and is not a pollution risk. 

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Eight crew members have been taken off a tugboat a mile off Hopes Nose near Torbay after it began taking on water when it was struck by a vessel it was towing.

Brixham Coastguard has been coordinating the rescue operation after the collision happened just after 7pm on Sunday (13 January).

The RNLI Torbay all-weather lifeboat and the Exmouth all-weather lifeboat were sent to the scene, along with the local harbour tug from Brixham, the Royal Navy vessels HMS Lancaster and HMS Severn, the RAF search and rescue helicopter from Chivenor and the Torbay Coastguard Rescue Team.

Efforts are now being made to keep the tug afloat with a salvage crew from the Royal Navy on board, and pumps in use to try to control the water level.

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Source: http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/