Abandoned boat found adrift off UK 'did have passengers' as police probe mystery

Police have revealed that four unnamed men were on a boat that was found empty and adrift off the coast of North Wales in the early hours of Saturday morning (March 18)

Perkin Amalaraj News Reporter and Alex Whilding

14:15, 19 Mar 2023

Police have revealed that four men were on a crewless boat that was left adrift off the coast of North Wales(Image: North Wales Live)

Police have revealed that four men were on a boat that was mysteriously found empty floating off the coast of North Wales.

The discovery of the crewless 20ft cruiser, called the Phoenix Hardy, off Colwyn Bay in North Wales on Saturday (March 18) sparked a massive search for the four men.

The boat was reported adrift at 6am on Saturday, with a lifeboat checking the waters around the scene for casualties more than an hour later, North Wales Live reported.

On Saturday, RNLI Llandudno said: "The cruiser was close to shore and found to be abandoned, at the request of HM Coastguard Holyhead the inshore lifeboat [ILB] proceeded to conduct a search in the bay to ascertain whether unknown casualties may have entered the water."

[The Phoenix Hardy on a beach ]

The boat was found abandoned on Saturday morning (March 18) (Image: PA)

"After an inconclusive search the crew returned to shore to report to the waiting coastguard and North Wales Police.

"An attempt was made to refloat the cruiser with a plan to tow it to Rhos Marina. However, this was unsuccessful, at which point the ILB was stood down and returned to Llandudno Lifeboat Station."

The coastguard said they were "reasonably" confident the group got off safely.

Detective Sergeant Mark Bamber of North Wales Police asked members of the public to get in touch if they have any information about the boat: "We are appealing for the owners or the people who have any knowledge of the boat to contact North Wales Police on 101 quoting reference number A039123."

[The Phoenix Hardy on a beach]

Lifeboat crews didn't see any signs of causalities when checking out the scene(Image: PA)

This comes after British tourists managed to cheat death after the boat they were on capsized off the coast of Portugal.

One passenger said at the time: "I thought I was going to die. The water wasn't really high to start with and I was calm but then it started rising very quickly and I began to panic.

By the time rescuers arrived at the sinking vessel, which was carrying four children, most of it was underwater and the passengers and crew were rescued from the water.

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