Men rescued as boat sinks

And their rescue, described as a "hair-raising exploit" by Swansea Coastguard, took place only after a lifeboat sent to help them had broken down.

The saga began when keen amateur fisherman Philip Battersby, 54, of Fairoak Avenue, Maindee, set off on the Penny Bee, a 20ft boat, for an early-morning fishing trip with three friends.

But the boat ran aground on a sandbank just outside Newport docks at the mouth of the Usk just before 8am and the men were forced to contact Swansea Coastguard. They told the coastguard they were in no immediate danger and two of the men left the boat and walked across the sandbank to the shore.

Mr Battersby and another man remained on the boat in the hope of refloating it when the tide returned.

The coastguard sent a lifeboat out from Penarth to make sure there were no problems, but when the lifeboat itself developed engine trouble and the weather continued to deteriorate, the Royal and National Lifeboat Institute were forced to send out a rescue helicopter and their 52ft offshore boat from Barry.

At first, coastguard officials said, Mr Battersby and his friend refused to leave their craft. But as the weather worsened, they agreed to be winched off while the offshore boat pulled the Penny Bee back into the water.

But when the fishing vessel was pulled off the sandbank, it proved to no longer be seaworthy and swiftly sank beneath the choppy waters.

Swansea Coastguard said: "That was quite a hair-raising exploit." And Ted Powell, honorary secretary of Barry RNLI, agreed: "We heard this small fishing boat with two people on board was in trouble yesterday morning, and the lifeboat was dispatched to give it assistance.

"But the lifeboat then had engine trouble itself and we were called out to help them. The helicopter was called as well and we managed to get a tow on the boat but it was sinking as we were doing it."

Mr Battersby was not available for comment last night.