TWENTY FOUR CREW members were rescued after a large cargo ship heading to Germany grounded in the entrance of the Southampton Waters last night.

A request from Solent Coastguard came in at 9:30pm when the car carrier, Hough Osaka, grounded on the Brambles Bank.

Two search helicopters and RNLI lifeboats from Calshot, Yarmouth and Cowes joined the search.

The RNLI said one crew member “leaped around 8 metres from the ship into the water and was picked up immediately by our inshore lifeboat”.

Most of the crew were winched to safety by helicopter and airlifted to Lee on Solent where ambulances were waiting to take any casualties to hospital.

Tom Pedersen, volunteer Calshot RNLI helmsman, said the rescue operation was a great team effort from all involved.

This is not the sort of call out you expect on a Saturday evening but we had a brilliant response from the RNLI volunteer crews and all the other agencies involved, resulting in the successful rescue of all the ship’s crew.

The RNLI crews were all stood down in the early hours of this morning.

An operation is now underway to free the ship.

Read: Search resumes for crew of capsized cargo vessel off Scotland coast>