A SAILOR was rescued off the coast of Spain after he used a mobile phone to call his brother in the Great Yarmouth area.An international rescue operation was launched after the man, whose 50ft motor cruiser was in trouble near Alicante, called his brother, who lives near Great Yarmouth.

A SAILOR was rescued off the coast of Spain after he used a mobile phone to call his brother in the Great Yarmouth area.

An international rescue operation was launched after the man, whose 50ft motor cruiser was in trouble near Alicante, called his brother, who lives near Great Yarmouth.

Peter Wheeler, watch manager from Yarmouth Coastguard, said the operation started at about 10pm last night when the Yarmouth brother alerted them and they in turn passed the details onto the Falmouth coastguard in Cornwall, which then rang the Spanish authorities.

Mr Wheeler said: “It was heavy weather and the call came in to the brother near Yarmouth.

“The brother called us and we took the information down. We passed it on to the Falmouth coastguard which passed it on to Spain.

“A rescue boat was sent out and the sailor managed to scramble to safety and was taken to safety ashore. The boat had lost an engine and was issuing a May Day.

“The boat came to rest ashore on the rocks off Cartagena in southern Spain. The brother was the good guy as he passed the details onto us.”

Mr Wheeler said using a mobile phone was not ideal, but in this case it had worked.

“Proper radios would be better and I don't know why the boat was unable to contact the local authorities in this case,” he said.

“But thankfully we were able to pass the information on and the Spanish authorities were excellent.”

Do you know who the brothers are? Ring reporter Dominic Bareham on 01493 847956 or email dominic.bareham@archant.co.uk