Sussex rescue fisherman 'severed hand in rope'
A fisherman who was airlifted from a vessel off the Sussex after severing his hand has had surgery, his rescuers have said.
Lifeboat and coastguard crews rescued the crew member from the Dutch vessel Artvelde on Sunday.
Shoreham RNLI said the crewman had become entangled in a rope, which severed his hand.
On Monday, RNLI spokeswoman Michelle Tugwell said the man had undergone surgery in hospital in Brighton.
She said the man's condition was not known.
Crew members on the beam trawler, which was 10 miles (16km) south of Shoreham, raised the alert on Sunday morning.
The lifeboat stood by while a coastguard helicopter lowered a paramedic to help the injured man before the casualty was airlifted to the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
Shoreham lifeboat coxwain Peter Huxtable said: "As far as we know, he caught his hand in his fishing gear and severed his hand so it was quite a nasty accident."
Mr Huxtable added: "It could have possibly been a wire rope that he got his hand caught up in, so very nasty."
And he said: "It's not that common, but you do get accidents like that - it happens so quickly and it's very heavy gear on fishing boats of this size. It's a bad accident."
Solent Coastguard said the Marine Accident Investigation Branch had been informed about the accident but it was not yet clear who would investigate the incident because the vessel was a Dutch vessel in British waters.