FOUR people had to be rescued after their speedboat broke down.

The party had set off from Rhyl on Sunday, July 7.

They were preparing to return after a day of fishing, just to the South-East corner of the Gwynt-Y-Mor windfarm, off Rhyl, when they discovered the starter motor had stopped.

Rhyl Lifeboat were paged at 3.42pm.

The vessel was situated about eight miles North of Rhyl. The coastguard put out an all-ships broadcast on the VHF radio and a nearby windfarm support vessel went to the aid of the boat, to prevent the group drifting into the windfarm area.

The boat was towed back to Rhyl and met up with Rhyl’s All-weather lifeboat, about six miles to the North of the harbour. The tow was transferred to the lifeboat and the four casualties were taken on board the lifeboat, whilst a lifeboat crew member stayed on the casualty vessel.

Martin Jones, coxswain of Rhyl lifeboat, said: “The party were well-equipped with all the necessary safety equipment, but the range of the VHF radio was not very great. We are thankful to the skipper and crew of the windfarm supply vessel ‘Windcat 3’ for assisting to get the casualty away from danger.

“The casualty vessel was assisted ashore by the local coastguard rescue team to ensure all were safely brought ashore.”

As the tide was going out at Rhyl harbour, it was a race against time to get the vessel back with enough water in the harbour to be recovered on the slipway.

To aid the speed and to move in the shallow water, the inshore lifeboat from Rhyl was launched, and towed the casualty vessel from the outer harbour to the slipway.