Storm Herminia: Urgent search for 73-year-old Briton missing at sea after empty life raft found
A 73-year-old British sailor is missing at sea after his “eviscerated” yacht was found by a French air force helicopter.
Divers who winched down to the yacht, called Tiger PA, in the Bay of Biscay found no sign of the man and an empty life raft, according to the Prefecture Maritiime de l’Atlantique.
The sailor set off a distress beacon on Saturday around 50 miles west of Lacanau, having previously told a cargo ship he was safe after not responding to any radio messages.
The air force helicopter found the damaged yacht at around 5.30pm and launched the search for the missing man.
Two divers were then winched down to the wreckage, where they discovered an empty raft, officials added.
A Portuguese cargo ship and a Spanish hospital vessel were both diverted to the area and to help with the search, alongside the French navy.
After several hours of searching, it was called off in the early hours of Sunday morning “due to a lack of information”.
The north of Spain and western France have had heavy rain and wind during Storm Herminia, which was named by Spanish meteorologists because the country was expected to experience the worst of the conditions.
Met Office weather warnings are in place for most of England and Wales as Storm Herminia brought wind gusts up to 83mph in the southeast.
The Environment Agency has issued more than 50 flood warnings, mostly for the country’s south-west, while 172 flood alerts have been issued for much of England – including south-east and further north – as forecasters warn of up to 80mm of rain in some areas.
Warnings for wind and rain have now been extended into Tuesday for some regions, particularly the southwest, where the strongest wind gusts were recorded on Sunday. The Met Office said heavy rain would bring a chance of power cuts, delays to travel services and “a small chance of fast flowing or deep floodwater causing danger to life”.
Storm Herminia is battering the country just two days after the more powerful Storm Eowyn brought record-breaking wind speeds of up to 100mph.
