Mysterious Yacht Found Aground In Cornwall With No One Onboard; Skipper Missing

A wide-scale search operation was launched off the coast of Cornwall after a yacht was found run aground with no one onboard near Chapel Point, Mevagissey, on Friday evening, June 13.

The HM Coastguard station at Mevagissey received a report at around 8:15 p.m. that a yacht had been spotted high and dry on the rocks at Chapel Point, close to the southern entrance of the English Channel. The sails were still set, but there were no signs of anyone aboard.

Responders from the Coastguard and RNLI rushed to the scene. Wearing dry suits for safety, two crew members from the Fowey lifeboat boarded the vessel to assess the situation. After confirming the vessel was empty, the authorities immediately treated the case as a potential missing person incident.

The search was carThe search was carried out under the coordination of Falmouth Coastguard and included a full-scale operation both onshore and offshore. Rried out under the coordination of Falmouth Coastguard and included a full-scale operation both onshore and offshore. RNLI lifeboats from Falmouth, Fowey, Looe, and The Lizard participated, along with a Coastguard helicopter and a fixed-wing surveillance aircraft. Devon and Cornwall Police were also involved, responding to concerns regarding the individuals linked to the vessel.

The Fowey lifeboat crew confirmed that their search lasted ten and a half hours, beginning at 8:40 p.m. and concluding at 4:50 a.m. Two crew members used the station’s smaller XP boat to reach the yacht and begin the investigation.

The lifeboat then carried out multiple search patterns from Chapel Point down to the Dodman and as far as the Lizard, reaching up to 25 nautical miles from Fowey.

A Coastguard aircraft resumed the search at around 7:45 a.m. on Saturday, continuing the efforts to locate any potential survivors. The focus of the operation remained mostly at sea, although teams also searched the coastline.

The yacht is believed to have arrived from Roscoff, France. The UK Border Force also attended the scene during the investigation.

Despite the scale of the operation and the involvement of several agencies, no one was found. On Sunday, HM Coastguard confirmed that the search had been called off.

In a public message, the Mevagissey Coastguard asked people not to guess or spread rumours online, saying the families and friends of those involved deserve privacy and respect while the facts are still being confirmed.

Images shared on social media by the Coastguard showed the wide area covered during the search, including several miles out to sea. Meanwhile, the Fowey RNLI lifeboat crew received a warm welcome back at the boathouse, where team member Boris had bacon baps ready for the exhausted volunteers at 6:30 a.m.

References: BBC, cornwalllive

Source: Maritime Shipping News