LIFEBOAT volunteers were called into action on Sunday after a fishing boat with eight crew began to sink off the Seaburn coast.

A major search operation by the volunteers based at Tynemouth and Sunderland Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) stations started just after 3:45pm after the crew on board the sinking fishing boat issued a 'Mayday' distress message stating that their boat was holed and taking on water fast.

The Northern Echo:
The crew on board the fishing boat issued a 'Mayday' call after their vessel began taking on water. Picture: Adrian Don/RNLI

Tynemouth RNLI all weather lifeboat was returning to the Tyne after a training exercise with a Coastguard rescue helicopter when the volunteer crew overheard the distress radio call.

A rescue water craft was also dispatched from Roker RNLI beach lifeguard unit by Humber Coastguard, who coordinated the search operation, while the Sunderland Coastguard Rescue Team assisted from shore.

A number of other angling boats and a sail training vessel that had been nearby kept watch over the anglers until the lifeboats arrived.

The Tynemouth lifeboat crew found the anglers desperately trying to bale water out from their boat and immediately evacuated them as the Sunderland lifeboat arrived.

Crew members from both lifeboats set up water pumps in an attempt to stabilise the water ingress. The boat was towed back to Sunderland by the Tynemouth lifeboat while some volunteers stayed on board to continue pumping water out of the boat.

The rescued boat was beached on North Sands near The Glass Centre and the anglers were transferred to safety on dry land from the Tynemouth lifeboat by Sunderland RNLI's inshore lifeboat, which had now also joined the rescue effort.

Adrian Don, spokesman for Tynemouth RNLI lifeboat station said: "This was an excellent team effort from everyone involved. There is no doubt that without the intervention of our volunteer crews the anglers would have been in serious danger of going into the sea as their boat would have sunk in a short time and unfortunately they only had three lifejackets between the eight people.

"We are all grateful for the support given by the local boating community who responded to the initial distress message to offer their support until our crews arrived."