Brits escape after yacht sinks off coast of Indonesian island

A group of four people, including two Britons, escaped danger after their yacht sank over 50 miles off the coast of an Indonesian island. The skipper raised the alarm after the boat, named Asia, hit an object in the water at about 9:00pm GMT on Friday (22^nd November 2019).

The UK coastguard, who helped organise the response, said that the crew sailed a lifeboat to land, where they were found more than eight hours later. Malaysian officials were alerted by the UK after Australia picked up the SOS.

Australian officials then contacted their British counterparts as the yacht appeared to be registered in the UK. Although the UK coastguard found no trace of the ship within its record, it did notice an alert on an US alarm system in approximately the same area.

From this, they were then able to trace the skipper’s wife, who was able to tell them where the ship had been heading. This helped Malaysian authorities finally make contact with the skipper at around 5:00am GMT.

A short while later the crew were met by local police near the town of Bima, in the West Nusa Tenggara province.

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Source: BBC News