Search under way after boat capsizes off Dorset coast

AN AIR and sea search was under way yesterday for a person believed to be missing in the water after a boat capsized.

The Coastguard said the alarm was raised after two people were found holding on to the side of an overturned boat in Poole Harbour, Dorset.

The men were rescued by helicopter and taken to Poole Hospital.

Lifeboats are now working alongside the Coastguard helicopters in an “intensive” search for a third person believed to have been on board.

A spokesman for the Coastguard said: “We are in the middle of a major incident.

“Two people have been 
recovered from the water in Poole Harbour by coastguard rescue helicopter and transferred to hospital.

“An intensive search is ongoing for a third person believed to be missing in the water 
after a small boat capsized this morning.”

The boat capsized near Brownsea Island and members of the public on the shore dialled 999.

Dom Fraser at the North Haven Yacht Club at Sandbanks told the Bournemouth Echo he understood the three people had been in a dinghy.

He said: “Around 10.45 I heard people shouting for help. I was about to row over but then the helicopter arrived.

“The water is quite shallow where it happened, to the point where you can stand up.”

Volunteers are searching the shoreline and a number of private boats are believed to be helping the Coastguard.

The Coastguard spokesman added that following the 999 call: “Both coastguard rescue helicopters were on exercise nearby and were on scene quickly.”