Four British Sailors Capsize In Atlantic - Search Called Off After 48 Hrs - UK Government Offers Consular Assistance

19th May 2014

Read some of the comments - some of their friends have gone on to plead to the British public to force our government to do something. They are professional sailors who may be in a life boat somewhere.

BigAndy9 suggests it is time for the English government to have a complete change of mind and start looking after its own people.


Families of four missing British yachtsmen have been engaged in a desperate attempt to have the search for their loved ones re-started after they vanished from their capsized vessel in the mid-Atlantic.

The US Coastguard said it had called off the search for the crew of the 40-foot Cheeki Rafiki.

There were also concerns about the activities of a Greek-registered container ship which encountered wreckage from the British yacht but then continued its voyage without investigating further.

The four - Andrew Bridge, the 21-year-old skipper, James Male, 23, an intern, Paul Goslin, 56, and Steve Warren, 52, who were both volunteer crew members - first reported getting into difficulty on Thursday when the vessel began taking on water.

The situation, although serious, was thought to be under control and colleagues back at their home port, Southampton, were not unduly concerned.

But in the early hours of Friday morning the yacht’s operators Stormforce Coaching lost contact with the yacht and sounded the alarm. It is believed - but not confirmed - that the men boarded a life raft and abandoned ship.

Despite this, a search operation by American and Canadian aircraft and merchant vessels was called off on Sunday morning.

Families of the missing men were believed to be engaged in behind-the-scenes negotiations to have the mission restarted, though a spokesman for the Royal Yachting Association would only confirm they were in contact with the Foreign Office.

Graham Male, James’s father, from Romsey, Hants, said: “The US Coastguard has done a fantastic job in very difficult conditions - we just want them to continue searching.”


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10839697/Questions-raised-about-hunt-for-missing-British-yachtsmen.html

"Bring Back Our Boys"

Come on Dave, where's your sign now?

BigAndy9 wrote:"Bring Back Our Boys"

Come on Dave, where's your sign now?

The government are on holiday now because Cameron said they can pack in early this year so don't hold out too much hope.

Yep! Calling it off after 48hrs, when they know they had a lifeboat full of supplies to last them, and they were all professional sailors is just not on, and the Canadians and Americans is bloody criminal.

Sassy wrote:Yep!   Calling it off after 48hrs, when they know they had a lifeboat full of supplies to last them, and they were all professional sailors is just not on, and the Canadians and Americans is bloody criminal.

Sassy is this a sarcastic post or are you serious?

48 hours isn't very long?

The 'Yep' was in reply to David Cameron giving Parliament the extra time off Edds.

Take the second sentence by itself, I think it is criminal to call it off so early.

Sassy wrote:The 'Yep' was in reply to David Cameron giving Parliament the extra time off Edds.

Take the second sentence by itself, I think it is criminal to call it off so early.

Ah right! Thought it was out of character for you to say that lol.

Sassy wrote:Yep!   Calling it off after 48hrs, when they know they had a lifeboat full of supplies to last them, and they were all professional sailors is just not on, and the Canadians and Americans is bloody criminal.

Spot on Sassy - this is a shocking story.

I do wonder if it were Americans out there...

But i'm also disgusted the English government are pi55ing around looking after the rest of the world and ignoring its own people.

Again.

Great news - the yanks have listened and have resumed searching!

Just heard, so they damn well should.

Looks like sad news:

The crew of the doomed British yacht the Cheeki Rafiki never managed to launch their life raft, it emerged last night.

The US Coastguard dramatically revealed at 2am today that the life raft had been found undeployed inside the upturned hull of the yacht, which was found adrift last night.

The revelation effectively ends any last hopes of the families of the four men on board the boat that they might have somehow survived.

Tragically, it has emerged that two of the sailors were originally due to embark on a different boat, before switching to the Cheeki Rafiki at the last minute.

Last night the hull of the yacht was found 1,000 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, by a US Navy warship.

It came just over a week after Andrew Bridge, 22, James Male, 23, Steve Warren, 52, and Paul Goslin, 56, went missing in the Atlantic travelling back to Britain from Antigua.

After closing the search with no findings last week, US authorities caved to pressure from the families of the four men to continue on Tuesday.

But today's discovery has brought the rescue efforts to a close.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2637724/US-Coast-Guard-hull-Cheeki-Rafiki-yacht.html#ixzz32cUyMvTu