Rescued passenger tells of 'terrifying' experience on sinking Skomer boat

A passenger who was rescued from the sinking boat which hit rocks near Skomer Island, off Pembrokeshire, yesterday has spoken about his "terrifying" experience.

Dan Snook, who was a passenger on the Lady Helen pleasure boat, along with his partner and two daughters, told the BBC about his ordeal.

He said: "The tour had pretty much finished really and we were on our way back to the harbour.

"We heard this huge crunch noise, we hit a rock, the boat spun around on a sort of axis and face the other way and started to list quite badly.

"We thought it was going to stop listing, but it didn't - it carried on, and we thought it was going to capsize.

"It just about stopped. There were 48 people hold on for dear life."

He added: "No-one was injured, but it was a terrifying experience, one which I don't think I'll forget."

The incident happened at around 1pm on Saturday, when the Lady Helen ran into a rock in an area of water known as Little Sound.

Initially, operators tried to tow the boat off the rocks, but it had begun to sink quite rapidly. Passengers were then transferred to other boats and, fortunately, no one was injured.

Metro reports that Pembrokeshire GP, Dr Pauline Smith, picked up stranded passengers on her friend's boat when they heard the mayday call.

She said: "We had quite a few children and elderly ladies on our boat. The children were initially a bit scared. They said the boat had been listing. But once we gave them a Twix each they were fine."

Related articles:

Mel B lives it up on luxury yacht in Cannes

Whale rescued from lobster pots in Ireland