HM Coastguard

HM Coastguard is an emergency service, like the Police, Ambulance and Fire Service. You can call them in an emergency situation when someone is in danger at sea, the beach or around the coast. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They help to:

• find missing people and boats (maritime search and rescue (SAR))
• rescue people such as climbers stuck on cliffs, or in mud
• rescue vessels, boats and people in trouble at sea

To get help you can call 999 and ask for the Coastguard or use a Maritime Very High Frequency Radio (VHF) to make a mayday call using channel 16. You can also use the VHF to make a Digital Selective Call (DSC), Or a pan pan broadcast, to report a non life threating situation.

In an emergency they might send lifeboats (RNLI or independent lifeboats), a coastguard rescue helicopter or rescue team. They work with other emergency services, volunteers and other vessels at sea, which when needed to help find and rescue people and boats.

Visit their website for safety advice and how to report emergency situations. Relay UK is the emergency text messaging service for deaf, hard of hearing, or speech-impaired people to contact emergency services.