All those onboard were airlifted to safety following the incident on Tuesday morning

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Five fishermen had to be rescued from their vessel on Tuesday morning after it began sinking off the Isle of Lewis.

Crew onboard Iuda Naofa called for help at around 11am when their boat began taking on water 48 miles north of the Butt of Lewis.

A coastguard rescue helicopter was sent to the scene and dropped a salvage pump on to the compromised ship so the fishermen could pump off the ingress of water.

However, the vessel became swamped and started to sink, so all of the crew were airlifted off.

Two were taken onto the nearby sister vessel, the Star of Hope, while the other three were transferred to hospital and treated for mild hypothermia.

Coastguard duty watch manager Paul Tunstall, said: “The weather conditions on scene were very much rough seas with southerly force 6 winds, evacuating the five crew swiftly and safely before the vessel went down was a great achievement.”

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