Lifeboat overturns twice in gales as tanker is grounded

A LIFEBOAT overturned twice in violent seas last night as it stood by to help a stricken tanker.

A crewman from the Waveney class boat Scout, based at Hartlepool, was swept into the sea and had to be rescued.

The lifeboat had spent hours being buffeted by 60mph gales and 30ft waves as the Freja Svea, a Danish-owned tanker, headed for rocks off Redcar, Cleveland. Just after 6.30pm she was struck by a huge wave and overturned, losing one man overboard.

An RAF Sea King, which had airlifted crewmen from the 97,000-ton tanker, picked up the missing man, later named as Robert Maiden, 25. Then the lifeboat with its remaining crew of six overturned again. Despite this she continued to stand by the tanker before returning to Teesside where the men were taken to hospital for check-ups.

The tanker, still aground last night, was said to have only 1,500 tons of oil on board. She had been waiting to come into the Tees estuary to fill up with oil when it fouled its anchors and drifted. Police said they did not believe there was a pollution risk.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution said boats like Scout were designed to right themselves within five seconds.