LIFEBOAT volunteers helped the crew of a fishing boat after an electrical fire broke out off the coast of Sunderland this morning.

Shortly before 10am the skipper of the Grenaa Star, a 65ft fishing boat sent a 'Mayday' distress call to Humber Coastguard requesting urgent assistance.

Sunderland & Tynemouth RNLI Lifeboat Stations launched their Atlantic 85 and Severn Class lifeboats.

Another fishing vessel Children’s Friend overheard the initial ‘mayday’ message and agreed to standby close to Grenaa Star, berthed at Hartlepool, until the emergency services arrived in case the crew needed to abandon ship.

The two RNLI lifeboats along with a RAF rescue helicopter from RAF Boulmer made best speed towards the vessels, some twelve miles east of Sunderland Harbour.

On arrival RNLI crews discovered that the crew of the Grenna Star had managed to put out the blaze.

Ian Rowan, Helmsman onboard Sunderland RNLI Lifeboat said “After arriving alongside the vessel we placed a crew member onboard to confirm that the fire had extinguished and that it was safe for the vessel to proceed back to his home port of Hartlepool”.

Tynemouth RNLI and the RAF Helicopter were then released from the incident by Humber Coastguard while Sunderland RNLI lifeboat escorted the Grenaa Star, towards Hartlepool.

When the two vessels reached Horden, Sunderland Lifeboat was replaced by Hartlepool Lifeboat which had launched to escort the fishing vessel the remaining six miles into Hartlepool.

Once safely alongside the harbour at Hartlepool the vessel was met by fire fighters from Cleveland Fire and Rescue who carried out a full inspection of the vessel to ensure that the fire would not reignite.

Ian Rowan added “Despite the distance offshore the two RNLI Lifeboats and RAF Helicopter all arrived in the area of the incident within thirty five minutes of receiving the initial distress call.

"Thankfully her crew managed to extinguish the fire but had they not done so the rapid response of the RNLI volunteers, Coastguard and RAF all working together would have minimised any risk to life”.