An 84-year-old man was rescued by Tenby RNLI after falling overboard from a tender at North bay Tenby. Thanks to a public tip-off, the lifeboat crew located and saved him.

Both of Tenby’s RNLI lifeboats were requested to launch shortly before 10.30pm on Friday night (July 17), after the coastguard picked up a mayday distress call from a yacht at anchor at North bay Tenby, reporting an 84 year old male who looked to be in difficulty in a tender attempting to get to his yacht after being ashore in Tenby.

Both boats were quickly on the water and tasked to locate the tender, with the all-weather lifeboat searching from St Catherine’s Island, to North Highcliffe buoy and the ILB searching the area of the Esplanade.

St Catherine’s Island
St Catherine’s Island (Stock image)

The crew of the inshore lifeboat fired a white para flare to illuminate the immediate area and with the enhanced visibility provided by the flare, the crew spotted a target. Upon further investigation, they located the tender, which was now empty. However, they could hear shouts for help in the water.

With the assistance of a member of the public who had rushed to the boathouse to report that he had seen the tender enter the cave at St Catherine’s Island, the crews soon located the male in the water hanging on to the rocks of St Catherine’s, having fallen overboard due to the strong current taking his vessel.

He was immediately taken aboard, warmed up and checked over to make sure he needed no immediate medical assistance, before being taken into the harbour, where he was left with members of Tenby Coastguard rescue team to await an ambulance.

Lyndsey - lightning strike St Catherine’s Island
A spokeserson for Tenby RNLI shared: “We'd like to extend our sincere thanks to Josh Dean, who came to the lifeboat station to report seeing the casualty being carried by the current into the cave beneath St Catherine's. (Photo: Lyndsey)

However, with the Welsh Ambulance Service extremely busy, meaning there would likely be a wait for the ambulance, the casualty was brought to the lifeboat station to await its arrival.

A spokeserson for Tenby RNLI shared: “We'd like to extend our sincere thanks to Josh Dean, who came to the lifeboat station to report seeing the casualty being carried by the current into the cave beneath St Catherine's.

“The information Josh provided was invaluable. It undoubtedly saved valuable time during the search, helping our crews locate the casualty more quickly and ultimately contributing to saving his life.”