Four fishermen were saved from their sinking trawler by the crew of an RNLI lifeboat yesterday evening.

The crew of the 24-metre fishing vessel sent out a mayday after reportedly hitting rocks, two miles south of Porthgwarra, off Land’s End.

HM Coastguard Falmouth alerted Sennen RNLI and the Tamar class all-weather lifeboat City of London III was launched at 5.55pm with seven RNLI volunteers, under the command of Coxswain Ollie George.

The HM Coastguard rescue helicopter was also scrambled.

The RNLI said: “The lifeboat arrived on scene around 6.12pm.

“The coxswain advised the four crew of the fishing vessel to take to their liferaft as the fishing vessel was low in the water and clearly sinking.

“The lifeboat was unable to make a safe approach to the fishing vessel as her trawling beams were deployed.

“The RNLI volunteers launched the smaller Y boat and recovered the casualty’s four crew from the liferaft.”

All four rescued men were wet and cold, and the coxswain decided to take them immediately to the safety of Newlyn Harbour for further assessment.

Arriving at Newlyn at 7.05pm, the four casualties were handed over to HM Coastguard and the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea fishermen.

The lifeboat returned to Sennen Cove, being recovered up the long slip around 9pm and made ready for her next mission.