Car Ferry Runs Aground Off Isle Of Wight; Incident Second In UK In As Many Days

The British coast guard is airlifting the 25 crewmen aboard a Singapore-flagged car carrier that ran aground off the Isle of Wight Saturday. The vessel was listing starboard, but it was unclear how it got into trouble, Sky News reported.

The 590-foot Hoegh Osaka, which was built in 2000, was headed for Germany from Southampton when it became beached at low tide at Bramble Bank, the BBC reported. A helicopter, lifeboats and tugboats were sent to the scene.

The Daily Telegraph reported one crewman suffered a broken leg and was airlifted to a Portsmouth hospital.

"It's not something you'd expect to see moored there at a 45-degree angle," Fred Battison, who lives on the Isle of Wight, told the BBC. "You often have ships that size -- it's about 51,000 tons -- going through but to see one stationary, in that position, is quite surreal."

Hoegh Autoliners, which owns the car ferry, runs services in the Caribbean as well as Africa, Asia and Europe.

Wight Radio reported at low tide at certain times of the year, "people actually play cricket on Bramble Bank."

The Saturday incident was the second in as many days in the U.K. The cement-carrier Cemfjord, was spotted upturned off Pentland Firth off the coast of northern Scotland, but there was little hope Saturday of rescuing its eight crew members. The Cypriot-flagged vessel was headed from Aalborg, Denmark, to Runcorn, England, the Scotsman reported.

Officials say no mayday was sent. The 272-foot ship was spotted by a ferry crew Friday. Bill Farquhar of RNLI Thurso said weather may have been a factor in the ship's demise. "Conditions are very bad indeed," he told the Scotsman.

The area where the Cemfjord ran into trouble is between the northern tip of Scotland and Orkney, and known for strong tides, Sail North Scotland said.