Both of New Quay’s lifeboats were called out over the weekend to rescue five people from a stricken vessel near Aberaeron.

The all-weather Mersey class and the inshore lifeboats from New Quay RNLI were launched on Saturday 30 August at 7pm following a Pan Pan call from a vessel in difficulty near Aberaeron.

With five people onboard, the 20ft boat had suffered mechanical failure and had run aground between Aberaeron and Aberarth.

The inshore lifeboat was first on scene and put a crew member ashore to check that all persons were accounted for and to assess any damage.

Dylan Price, New Quay RNLI helm said: “After assessing the boat and that the persons were safe, we towed the vessel clear of the shore while the all-weather lifeboat prepared the salvage pump in case the vessel was taking on water.

“Our Mersey class all-weather lifeboat then took over the tow while we went on ahead to Aberaeron to clear the harbour entrance of swimmers. The all-weather lifeboat towed the casualty vessel into Aberaeron harbour where we had rigged up an alongside tow and manoeuvred the vessel onto its mooring.”

Dylan added, “A Pan Pan call is the international standard urgency signal that someone uses to declare that they have a situation that is urgent but does not pose an immediate danger to anyone’s life or the vessel itself.”

Both lifeboats were then stood down and returned to station at 8:30pm.