Bembridge The RNLI’s All-Weather Lifeboat (RNLB Alfred Albert Williams) launched early this evening to assist in the medivac of a man injured in a gas explosion on his 26-foot boat in Portsmouth Harbour. RNLB Alfred Albert Williams (Tamar All-Weather Lifeboat 16-17) was launched this evening at the request of UK (Solent) Coastguard to assist in the medivac of a person who had suffered burns after a gas explosion on his 26-foot vessel in Portsmouth Harbour near Hardway Sailing Club. When they arrived in Portsmouth around 5.20 pm they coordinated with Coastguard Helicopter Rescue 175, which had also been tasked, and after launching the new enhanced Y-boat, they initially ‘attended’ a vessel in the area that Rescue 175 had advised had fired a red flare. In the end, it was not the boat involved in the gas explosion, and it took until 5.40 p.m. to locate the correct boat closer inshore. The Y-boat crew initially recommended that the casualty be winched up to Rescue 175 for immediate transfer to hospital, but due to the difficulty in doing so, it was decided to recover the casualty to the waiting ambulance using the Portsmouth Coastguard Rescue Team’s’mud rescue team’ assisted by the Y-boat crew. The Y-boat was recovered to the waiting Alfred Albert Williams, who then returned to Bembridge and was recovered by 7.15 pm.
