Angle RNLI volunteers responded to a Mayday call in the early hours of yesterday morning and rescued five crew from a sinking fishing boat off the Pembrokeshire coast.

Angle RNLI volunteers launched the all-weather lifeboat at 2.15am this morning after receiving reports of a fishing boat sinking rapidly off Rat Island.

A local pilot vessel and the Coastguard Rescue Helicopter were also tasked to the incident.

The lifeboat crew arrived on scene, to find the fishing boat in shallow water off West Angle Bay and maneuvered alongside.

Two RNLI crew members were transferred on board with a salvage pump in an attempt to save the vessel.  However the skipper soon decided that the fishing boat was unsafe and ordered his crew and the two RNLI volunteers to abandon the vessel into a liferaft.

Once the liferaft was clear of the sinking boat the all-weather lifeboat recovered the crew, along with the liferaft, and made their way back to Milford Haven.

When the lifeboat arrived at Milford Haven Port Authority jetty the casualties were handed over to the Coastguards and the RNLI volunteers made their way back to Angle, returning to station at 3:35am before heading home back to their beds.