Pair Trawler Sunk in Collision With Sister Ship off Shetland Islands

On Thursday, the UK's HM Coastguard worked with good samaritan vessels to rescue the crew of a sinking fishing vessel off the Shetland Islands.

At about 1200 hours on Thursday, HM Coastguard received a mayday from the Peterhead-based fishing vessel Guiding Star, which was located about 45 nm to the southeast of the Shetlands. The crew reported that they had collided with another vessel, the sister ship Guiding Light. The Star was taking on water, and her crew was preparing to abandon ship into a liferaft. 

An HM Coastguard helicopter based out of the Shetland Islands was dispatched to the scene, and it helped pick up some of the survivors. The standby ship Grampian Freedom and the Guiding Light also responded and provided assistance. All eight crewmembers were rescued and transferred safely to the Guiding Light, which brought them back to shore at Lerwick, the main port in the Shetlands. 

“We are so thankful everyone is accounted for and grateful to the crew, and the nearby vessels which responded, for helping us achieve a good outcome," said Max Rimington, Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC) commander for HM Coastguard,

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch has launched an inquiry  and a team of inspectors will begin gathering evidence, the MAIB said in a statement. 

Guiding Star was a modern 26-meter steel fishing vessel built in 2014, and she was designed for pair trawling for operator Andrew Marr International.