The group were rescued from their liferaft in the early hours of Tuesday morning

Five men were rescued from a liferaft in the early hours of Tuesday morning after their vessel sank 75 miles west of the Isles of Scilly.

The UK coastguard received two distressed calls from the fishermen just after 11.45pm on Monday evening, including an EPRIB from the Kairos that gave a GPS location for the vessel.

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Falmouth coastguard coordinated the overnight search, drafting in two Irish coastguard search and rescue helicopters, an RNLI lifeboat, fishing vessels and two commercial boats that were also in the area.

The five fishermen were recovered from the liferaft and taken aboard the vessel Cu Na Mara before being taken to Castletownbere in Ireland.

Senior maritime operations officer Jim Morrison, said: “Thankfully all the crew were rescued. An incident such as this shows the value of having Digital Selective Calling and an Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacon onboard.

“Using the information from the distress alerts we were able to locate the fishing vessel’s last position quickly and deploy resources to the scene.”

All four men were said to be safe and well following their rescue.