A major rescue effort began at Seaford, near Newhaven, UK, on Saturday when the coastguard received an emergency 406 beacon alert from a Devon scalloping vessel at about 06:00 GMT.
One crew member was found clinging to a buoy and taken to hospital.
The HM Coastguard said: “He was located by one of the RNLI lifeboats. He was conscious, he was breathing, he was hypothermic, he’d obviously been in the sea in cold water so hypothermia is a big risk.
“He wasn’t in a good way but we did manage to get him to shore and pass him over to the hospital.”
Despite an extensive search for two other crew members, the coastguard confirmed it had called off efforts to find them at 15:00 GMT saying “nothing further has been found.”.
The 406 beacon’s emergency signal put the 45ft vessel, which was registered in Brixham, about three nautical miles off the coast, and the only alert was from that automatic 406 EPIRB.
Throughout Saturday a number of vessels, including at one point 14 local fishing boats, took part in the search conducted by HM Coastguard and RNLI.
“It is testament to the local maritime community that HM Coastguard was so admirably supported throughout the day by nearby vessels and the local fishing communities, who joined us in force and made strenuous efforts to locate their colleagues during the search.”
On Saturday, the coastguard said debris had been located close to where the alert had originated.
The community was “really pulling together” and “lighting candles and putting them in their windows” to show they were thinking of the missing men.
Read more here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-55032499
https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/18888497.helicopter-search-fishing-boat-near-newhaven/