Nueva Villa Lepe,The crew of a trawler based in Isla Cristina, Huelva province, were rescued out at sea.

Four men jumped overboard minutes before the boat sank The crew of a trawler based in Isla Cristina, Huelva province, were rescued out at sea on Tuesday after they were forced to jump overboard when the boat began to sank some 20 miles off the coast of Punta Umbría. The call to the Coastguard came late on Tuesday morning when, according to the newspaper ‘Huleva Información,’ the crew reported that the ‘Nueva Villa Lepe,’ a boat which was just over two years old, was taking on water. They said they were trying to fix the problem and did not need any help.The Nueva Villa Lepe’s engineer, Rafael Fernández, later told the paper that ‘it was like the sinking of the Titanic, the stern flooded and the water went straight through to the rest of the boat before we scarcely had time to react.’ They jumped off the trawler minutes before it sank beneath the surface.Two of the crew were rescued by another trawler which was in the area, and the others by the Coastguard helicopter ‘Helimer Andalucía’ which the Coastguard had sent out as a precaution, along with a rescue boat, after receiving the original call. Two of the men needed hospital treatment for hypothermia, but were discharged later on Tuesday.