A crew member on a South Devon fishing boat was suddenly taken ill and in severe pain last week, two miles south east of the mouth of the Dart.

On Thursday, August 9, in the late afternoon, the 14m fishing boat alerted Falmouth Coastguard when one of the three crew was taken ill.

The Coastguard tasked the RNLI Dart D class inshore lifeboat and a Coastguard Sikorsky helicopter from Newquay.

Meanwhile, the fishing boat made best possible speed towards Dartmouth and two RNLI casualty care trained lifeboat crew went on board when she was two miles from the mouth of the Dart.

The casualty was assessed and given casualty care. This was then taken over by the Coastguard paramedic who was winched aboard about 10 minutes later.

It was decided to land the casualty at the Kingswear Ferry landing and he was transferred to Torbay District Hospital by the waiting ambulance.

The Coastguard paramedic was taken on the lifeboat to the recovery slip and returned to the helicopter which had landed in Coronation park.