St Davids’ all-weather lifeboat was requested to assist a casualty reported as non-breathing on board a tanker 22 nautical miles west of St Davids Head yesterday.

Paged at 1.04pm on Wednesday, October 15, the RNLI lifeboat crew made maximum speed towards the vessel.

Due to the calm conditions, the 16 metre Tamar class lifeboat met the 95 metre tanker around 17-18 nautical miles west of St Davids Head. Three volunteer crew were put aboard the tanker and provided casualty care to the individual, who was by now breathing with the assistance of oxygen. The crew members continued casualty care, providing oxygen and first aid, until winch paramedics from Coastguard rescue helicopter 936 landed onboard some 15 minutes later. St Davids crew assisted the Coastguard paramedics with extraction via helicopter to Withybush hospital. With casualty safely away on the helicopter, the charity’s crew returned to the lifeboat and returned to station, rehousing around 4pm.

Will Chant, RNLI Coxswain for St Davids RNLI lifeboat, said: “We thank Coastguard rescue 936 Caernarfon for their assistance with the service and wish the casualty a speedy recovery.”