A fisherman was rescued after he fell into a fish bin in Simonstown, the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said on Wednesday.

“Only his foot still protruded from the bin, with the rest of his body buried under fish, and fellow crew grabbed his foot and managed to pull him out of the bin from under the fish,” NSRI Simonstown station commander Darren Zimmerman said in a statement.

The 42-foot Cape Town fishing trawler, “Lincoln”, reported the incident to the NSRI around 8.20pm on Tuesday. It reported that a “a crewman onboard suffered chest injuries after he reportedly fell into a fish bin (fish hold) while their catch was being poured into the fish bin causing him to subsequently get buried under the fish”.

Rescue teams and paramedics were activated and the 39-year-old fisherman, from Vanwyksvlei in the Northern Cape, was treated for suspected fractured ribs. He was then transferred to Simonstown harbour from where he was taken to Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital where he is in a stable condition. SAPA