Prenton man pays tribute to his RNLI rescuers

Nov 12 2008 by Sue McCann, Birkenhead News

A PRENTON man plucked to safety by a lifeboat crew returned to North Wales to thank his rescuers and pay his respects to his best friend who died.

Phil McWilliam, 23, was dramatically rescued by the crew from Moelfre lifeboat on May 24 in an incident which claimed the life of his 22-year-old pal, Craig Caven.

Craig died after being swept out to sea by a large wave while seeking a fishing spot off Cemaes.

He said: “I can’t remember anything of the incident but I’ll always be grateful to the rescuers for saving my life.”

On Saturday, Phil and other members of his family, were guests aboard the Moelfre lifeboat and accompanied the crew on an exercise.

His mother, Mary, who has helped raise more than £8,500 for the Moelfre RNLI crew since the incident, said: “If it weren’t for the crew, Phil would not be here. He was literally plucked from the brink of death.”

After the alarm was raised, a coastguard officer jumped into the sea to save Phil after he fell while attempting to reach Craig.

The Moelfre RNLI lifeboat was launched and skilfully manoeuvred among submerged rocks to reach Phil, who was found clinging to rocks in a hypothermic and exhausted state.

RNLI volunteers Nigel Musgrave and Edward Griffiths rowed through large waves in an inflatable rescue dinghy to save Phil and the coastguard officer. A helicopter from RAF Valley airlifted all three men to Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor, but Craig later died.

Rod Pace, RNLI lifeboat operations manager at Moelfre said: “Everyone at the RNLI in Moelfre is grateful to Mrs McWilliam for raising this fantastic amount of money. We were expecting nowhere near this figure.”