Woman in freak tide sinking

A 73-year-old woman was recovering in hospital today after escaping death when her boat was broken up by a freak ebb tide and she was sucked beneath a car ferry.

Pamela Stewart was sailing with her husband Dennis and a friend, Dennis Atkinson, when their 18ft long yacht was pinned against the Sandbanks chain ferry at the entrance of Poole Harbour in Dorset yesterday.