Ships run aground in severe UK storms

Rescue workers airlifted 37 people from two vessels that ran aground off Britain's northwestern coast during storms with gale force winds and massive waves, officials said Friday.

Helicopters rescued the 14-member Spanish crew of the Spinning Dale trawler on rocks off St. Kilda in Scotland's Western Isles on Friday, coast guard spokesman Fred Caygill said. Two of the crew were later treated at a British hospital for hypothermia.

Late Thursday and early Friday, the coast guard successfully airlifted 23 people off a ferry that ran aground near England's Blackpool beach soon after a freak wave left it listing on its side, Caygill said.

The Spaniards were trapped on the rocks under a cliff at St. Kilda, an uninhabited volcanic archipelago 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Benbecula. The gale-force winds swirling around the cliff had made it difficult for a helicopter to approach, Caygill said.

The trawler Spinning Dale sent a distress call at 0520 GMT as strong Force 9 gales -- with winds ranging from 47-54 mph -- lashed the island. Caygill said the winds were approaching Force 11 -- a violent storm with winds of 55-63 mph -- by 0900 GMT.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/01/britain.storms.ap/index.html