A missing oil tanker crew member, thought to have fallen overboard at Pembrokeshire’s Valero terminal, has not been found despite two extensive searches by local lifeboat volunteers.
The crew member was reported missing on Sunday evening when his vessel was alongside the Valero Pembrokeshire Oil Terminal (VPOT).
The ship’s crew began a search of the vessel and found evidence of the person entering the water.
Angle lifeboat and Coastguard Rescue Helicopter R187 from St Athan were tasked to search for the missing person, along with coastguard rescue teams from Dale and Broad Haven, shortly before 10pm on Sunday.
The lifeboat, alongside a port authority pilot boat made best speed to the area and began searching.
The pilot boat initially searched around the vessel, berth and jetties before heading east to cover Hazelbeach, Llanstadwell and up as far as Neyland Spit before moving to the south side and conducting a search back west, including up into Pennar Gut.
The lifeboat commenced a search around the vessel, before conducting a shoreline search east towards Weir Spit.
The lifeboat then began a keyhole search working north to south whilst heading in an easterly direction. The lifeboat carried out multiple legs of the search encompassing Hazelbeach, Llanstadwell, Neyland, Pembroke Dock and Hobbs Point before finishing up at the Cleddau Bridge.
The crew used search lights, image intensifiers and FLIR thermal imaging equipment to help them search.
The lifeboat’s inflatable Y boat also carried out a shoreline search from the oil tanker up as far as Hazelbeach, before returning to the vessel to conduct a thorough search of the vessel, berth, gangways and jetties. The Y boat then searched the shoreline once again, travelling up as far as Neyland.
With all these searches complete, the Y boat was recovered. The all-weather lifeboat then carried out a further search of the Haven between Wards Pier and the lifeboat station.
At this point, Coastguard Rescue Helicopter R187 from St Athan, which had previously been tasked, was forced to return to its base before arriving on scene as heavy rain showers made it unsafe for it to continue.
The lifeboat began a parallel track search from Wards Pier to the lifeboat station. With this completed the lifeboat crew liaised with the police and coastguard. Nothing had been found and, in the early hours of yesterday morning, the lifeboat and her crew were stood down and returned to station at around 2am.
Yesterday, Monday, morning at 10.03am the crew was paged to search once again.
With daylight and better searching conditions, the lifeboat was requested to launch to complete a shoreline search of the Haven.
The lifeboat launched shortly after and began searching in the Milford area, before heading up river searching Hazelbeach, Llanstadwell, Neyland, Burton and Lawrenny before returning down the southern shore encompassing Pembroke Dock, Pennar, the Valero terminal, Angle, and Thorn Island.
The lifeboat then made its way across to Watwick Bay and searched back along the north shore into Dale Bay, Lindsway, Sandy Haven, the South Hook LNG and Puma Terminals.
Following 32 miles of shoreline searches, the lifeboat and crew were stood down with thanks. Again, nothing found despite thorough searches of the area.
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