The RoRo ferry Riverdance, which went aground on Thursday night on the foreshore at Blackpool, shifted slightly with the last high tide and has moved further up the beach. Passengers and non essential crew were airlifted from the vessel last night, by rescue helicopters from Royal Navy, RAF and Irish Coastguard and 14 people including four passengers were winched off. Nine crew members, who had remained on board to ballast the vessel for improved stability whilst aground, were evacuated this morning.
All crew members have been taken to a hotel, pending arrangements for repatriation. The majority of crew members are Polish.
SOSREP, Secretary of States Representative for Salvage has been in discussion with salvors, but no final plans for refloating have been made. There is no reported oil pollution from the vessel, which is in a stable condition.
There is no change in the situation of the fishing vessel Spinning Dale, which went onto rocks this morning at Village Bay, St Kilda.
Stornoway Coastguard coordinated the rescue of the 14 Spanish crew members after they were unable to evacuate to a life raft due to the severe weather conditions, with Force 9 winds.
The Spinning Dales’ crew members were airlifted off the vessel by Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 100 from Stornoway flown by Liz Forsythe. This was the first time that a woman pilot had carried out an air evacuation from a ship in UK waters. The operation was a difficult one, due to very high winds gusting up to 50 knots above the cliffs.
Rescue mission for seriously injured sea captain
A rescue mission to airlift a seriously injured captain off a ship damaged by force 10 storms has been called.
An RAF helicopter battled force nine winds in a bid to airlift the skipper, who has serious spinal injuries and internal bleeding.
There are reportedly six other passengers on board who are suffering from lesser injuries.
The cargo ship, called the Horncliff, is carrying bananas and other fruit from the Caribbean and was caught in the storm off the Isles of Scilly en route to Dover.
The coastguard has said the vessel has also lost around 90 containers and is listing slightly but there is no danger of it sinking.
The Irish Coast Guard was assisting in the rescue operation and had hoped to take seven people off the vessel, including the captain.
Weather forecaster, Daniel Adamson, said conditions in the Irish Sea are improving significantly.
He said: It's still a windy evening but it's much calmer than it was last night and earlier on today. Conditions have improved a lot.
"There will be more rain tomorrow and it will be a windy weekend, but it will be nothing like as bad as it has been."
© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.
CHICAGO WEATHER UPDATE!
January 31-February 1 2008 Snow Storm ( NWS REPORT)
A winter storm that developed in the southern plains and tracked northward from the Gulf coast into southern Indiana left a swath of snow of around 4 to 8 inches across north central Illinois and 7 to 12 inches across northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana. Light to moderate snow started up late Thursday morning that dropped about an inch to an inch and a half by Thursday afternoon.
Moderate snow, that was heavy at times, started up later in the afternoon Thursday and lasted through the morning on Friday. Some lingering snow lasted through the early afternoon in northwest Indiana that dropped an extra inch or so of snow. Here is a map showing where the heaviest snow fell, along with reports from COOP observers, official NWS observations, CoCoRaHS reports, and public reports. The National Weather Service in Romeoville would like to thank all of our great observers across our area for their reports yesterday and today and everyday!
RS
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