Two anglers from a Braintree fishing club were airlifted to hospital after falling off their boat.
The men were fishing five miles off Harwich when their 15ft boat was involved in a collision with a tug.
Harwich RNLI inshore lifeboat, rescue helicopter 125 and two Harwich Haven Authority pilot boats - the Haven Heron and Haven Hawk - were sent to the scene at 2.40pm yesterday.
Both men, Simon King, of Hatfield Peverel, and Barrie Senior, of Terling, were flown to Ipswich Hospital for a medical check and later discharged. One of them was suffering from cold shock.
The men were competing in an angling contest organised and run by the Braintree Sea Angling Club, called the Gerry Armstrong Small Boat Memorial Match 2005.
Bob Pennick, one of the event organisers, said: "They were very lucky in some respects. I was there fishing but I didn't actually see the incident.
"I was a bit concerned to say the least when we heard it on the radio."
He said it happened almost at the end of the competition and an inquiry into the incident had been launched.
More in today's Evening Gazette
Published Monday, December 5, 2005
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