Royal Air Force (RAF) search and rescue helicopter of Prince William was dispatched at dawn for several hours at sea after an 81 meter cargo vessel sinks.
Two shipwrecked crew members plucked from the raging sea by the Duke of Cambridge but five crewmen still missing who had been feared drowned.
The 267 ft. Swanland sank with its cargo of 3,000 tons of limestone after being hit by a massive wave off the North Wales coast.
It is registered in the Cook Islands but owned by a firm based in Grimsby, was carrying limestone quarried in North Wales from Raynes Jetty to Cowes on the Isle of Wight when the unfortunate incident happened.
When the mayday call was made at 2 a.m. by the cargo ship captain , it was became clear that the bulk carrier was doomed after being hit by an enormous wave that cracked its hull around 20 miles off the Lleyn peninsula.
As the ship sank, its eight-man crew all believed to have been wearing survival suits before they were submerged in the chilly stormy water of the Irish Sea.
The helicopter co-piloted by Prince William hovers over the sea as it looks for survivors. A man aboard a life raft waves at the helicopter as they attempted to rescue him and his colleagues after the ship sank.
They immediately traced the survivors in a life raft, winched them for safety and were flown to Anglesey for check-ups.
Ray Carson of the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Center in Holy-head, described the rescue as ‘outstanding’ and ‘The ’copter crew definitely saved the life of two men.’
