Family of four rescued after yacht hits iceberg

Published on Saturday 8 May 2010 23:46

A COUPLE and their two daughters were rescued by a warship yesterday after a collision with an iceberg in the South Atlantic halted their round-the-world voyage.

Lord and Lady Hollinsclough, from Derbyshire, ran into trouble north-east of South Georgia after they hit a low-lying, mostly submerged iceberg, known as a "growler".

The pair, Carl Lomas and Tracey Worth, from the village of Chelmorton, were on the Hollinsclough yacht with their daughters Caitland and Morgause Lomas, believed to be in their teens.

Falmouth Coastguard helped the Falkland Islands authorities locate the vessel, which had taken on water and suffered engine failure. The family now face a 1,000-mile journey to the Falklands after being picked up by the warship HMS Clyde. The family should arrive there by the middle of this week, the coastguard estimated.

Prospects of saving the yacht are understood to be poor. A coastguard spokesman said: "It was fairly low in the water. Perhaps it will sink."

HMS Clyde was 200 miles south of the yacht when the alert was raised, and sailed to the rescue of the family.

A coastguard spokesman said: "They are OK, but I would imagine they are a bit shaken."

The coastguard likened the submerged iceberg to the one which sank the Titanic. A spokesman said: "What they've hit is a 'growler', where hardly anything is out of the water."