Mersey pilot boat fire: four crew members rescued
Four men were rescued from a pilot boat that caught fire on the River Mersey.
The RNLI lifeboat at New Brighton was called out to assist the Dunlin, which was six miles out from the mouth of the Mersey, in the early hours.
The stricken vessel had lost all power in its engines after a fire onboard, which was extinguished by the crew.
The boat was towed into Liverpool by its sister, the Petrel, under escort from the lifeboat. None of the crew members were injured.
Cliff Downing, lifeboat operations manager at New Brighton, said it had been a "textbook" recovery operation.
"We were very lucky. There was nobody hurt, nobody injured [and] the tow went successfully," he added.
Pilot boats are used to transport pilots between land and the ship they are navigating in or out of port.