Injured sailor rescued from ship

The helicopters had to refuel on the Isles of Scilly

An injured crewman has been airlifted off a merchant ship in an operation involving two Royal Navy Sea King rescue helicopters.

Falmouth Coastguard coordinated the medical evacuation of the 48-year-old man from the 14,000-tonne cargo vessel Star Best during severe weather.

The Panamanian-registered ship was about 200 miles (322km) south-south-west of the Isle of Scilly.

The Filipino crewman had an open facture to his thigh.

He sustained his injury falling through a vent shaft in the ship's engine room.

It was a difficult rescue because of the bad weather coupled with it taking place at night Falmouth Coastguard spokesman

After medical treatment, he was winched aboard one of the helicopters and flown to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

The RAF Rescue Centre at Kinloss scrambled the helicopters from RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall.

The first, which has a doctor on board, had to refuel in the Scillies and wait until the ship came into range.

The second helicopter has been providing top cover and shadowed the other back to the Scillies, then on to Truro.

Storm force winds of about 40mph (35 knots) and 40ft (12m) waves added to the difficulty of the rescue which took several hours.

A spokesman for Falmouth Coastguard said: "It was a difficult rescue because of the bad weather coupled with it taking place at night.

"The aircraft were working towards the limit of their range but the injured man was taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital shortly after 1900 GMT. "