On
31 January
2008 at 19:30
the MS Riverdance was "broadsided" by a wave, causing the
cargo to shift.[3]
At 19:45 the captain issued a
Mayday call.
The ship was listing at 60 degrees. At 20:00 the rescue crew at
RAF Valley on
Anglesey was
put on standby, being scrambled at 20:20.
Liverpool
Coastguard
co-ordinated assistance provided to the ship.
Helicopters
from the
Irish Coast Guard,
Royal Navy
and
Royal Air Force
attended, along with lifeboats from
Lytham and
Fleetwood.
The Steersman assisted with communications and the tugs
Clwyd Supporter and Highland Sprite were reported to be
on their way to assist the ship. Before he was rescued, one of the
passengers made an emotional, and what he thought at the time final,
mobile phone
call home to his wife. At 21:00, fourteen people were airlifted from
the ship, which later ran aground on
Blackpool's
North Beach, opposite Anchorsholme Lane at around 22:50 (grid ref SD
309 424
53°52′24″N
3°03′09″W
/ 53.873182,
-3.052444).
The place where the Riverdance beached is very close to the
remains of the
Abana,[11]
and directly above the former Little Bispham underground car park.[12]
The
passengers and crew lifted off the ship arrived at
Blackpool airport
at 22:00, and two of them were taken to hospital suffering from mild
hypothermia,
but were not detained. The passenger
who had called his wife was able to call her at 22:30 to say that he
was safe.
The
decision to evacuate the remaining nine crew members of the ship was
made in the early hours of
1 February.
The remaining crew were airlifted off the ship at 04:00 on 1
February. The rescued crew and
passengers were either accommodated at a hotel in
Lancaster, or
provided with a taxi to take them home.
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