Two men have been rescued after their fishing vessel sank off the island’s coast.

The coastguard co-ordinated the rescue of two fishermen from the sea.

A mayday call was made at 6pm on Saturday from a fishing boat with two crew members on board that was sinking rapidly 2.5 miles north west of the Calf Sound.The Coastguard helicopter from Caernarfon was scrambled and the Port Erin and Port St Mary lifeboats were launched.On the way they were informed that a nearby fishing vessel had rescued the two men in their lifejackets from the water. Their liferaft had been deployed but the vessel had sunk so quickly they had been forced directly into the water and had been unable to get to the liferaft before they were picked up by the other boat. The fishermen had activated their personal locator beacons and the Isle Of Man-registered 10-metre fishing vessel sank shortly afterwards.Both lifeboats escorted the second fishing vessel back to Peel harbour where the two casualties were met by the emergency services and found to be safe and well.Coxswain Mike Keggen said if the casualties hadn't have been wearing lifejackets and the second vessel hadn't picked them up so quickly the outcome might have been very different.