FV EQUINOXE

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Fishing vessel found life raft of missing cutter

On Dec 6, 2019, at 11.20 a.m. the CROSS Gris Nez was alerted by a signal of the distress beacon of the French fishing vessel 'Le Mordu - FC 899311' (CS: FDG3004; MMSI: 227592050) six nautical miles north of Fécamp. After a quick check with the Fécamp semaphore and the harbour master of Fécamp, the CROSS deployed the SNSM boat 'Cap Fagnet' from Fécamp and routed a Dolphin helicopter of the Navy base in Le Touquet which was already in the air for another mission, to investigate. A patrol at the coast was carried out by the crew of SNSM station of Petites-Dalles, as well as by the Dragon 76 helicopter of the civil security of Le Havre. Around 12:30, the Dauphin helicopter recovered a person in cardio-respiratory arrest from the water who was immediately taken to the Fécamp hospital where he was pronounced dead one hour later. The 'Cap Fagnet' continued the search for the fishing vessel and potential shipwrecked people, the Dauphin and Dragon 76 helicopters were replyed by a Cayman Navy helicopter based in Maupertus, whose optical instruments could deepen searches in the very difficult visibility conditions. Weather conditions were rain and south-east winds of about 32 knots and four meter swell. These conditions were expected to deteriorate further with gusts reaching 60 knots. In the afternoon of Dec 6 the CROSS Gris-Nez, decided to stop the search operations undertaken off Fécamp to find the second person on board the fishing vessel. Despite the scale of the resources mobilized, only the life raft was found by the fishing vessel 'L'Equinoxe' near the site of the sinking, likely to belong to the 'Le Mordu'. Search operations resumed on Dec 7 at 8:30 a.m., coordinated by the CROSS with the 'Cap Fagnet' and the SNSM boat 'Commandant Chandelier' of the station Saint-Valery-en-Caux. Land patrols were underway over 10 km at the foot of the cliffs, made up of volunteers from the SNSM and police. The search to locate the wreckage continued since 1 p.m. by the sonar group of Channel clearance divers (GPD Channel) of the Navy, based in Cherbourg. These were to last 4 hours.