Lifeboat Call-Outs in Region Are Up 20% ; ‘Sea Can Be Inviting, but Care Needed’

By Dave Black

LIFEBOAT call-outs on the North East coast in the past three months are up almost 20% on the same time last year.

Crews covering the area from Berwick to Skegness have been called out 328 times since the beginning of May, compared with 279 in the same period in 2007, according to RNLI figures.

The statistics confirm local evidence pointing to an unusually busy start to the summer season for the region’s maritime rescue services, which have dealt with a spate of incidents in recent weeks.

In the latest alert, five teenagers playing a wave-dodging game sparked a 999 operation on the Northumberland coast on Monday night.

The three boys and two girls were swimming in the sea at South Beach, Blyth, just before 9pm when they were almost swept away by the tide.

It is believed they clung to wooden groynes running down from the beach into the water as they were pounded by waves and thrown against rocks, but eventually managed to drag themselves ashore.

Yesterday an RNLI spokeswoman said the number of North East lifeboat launches so far in 2008 was 439, 12 down on the same time last year. However, from May to this week, the figure is 49 up.

She said: “The statistics do suggest it has been a pretty busy start to the summer season for our crews in the North East area.” In Monday’s Blyth incident, a friend on the beach saw the five teenagers in trouble and contacted the coastguard, who sent a local team, the Blyth RNLI inshore lifeboat and the Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade.

The lifeboat crew arrived to find the five teenagers on the beach, where they were checked by ambulance paramedics and found to have escaped with cuts and bruises. One of the girls was vomiting after swallowing water while dragging herself to safety.

It was the latest in a spate of call-outs for lifeboat, coastguard and RAF helicopter crews on the region’s beaches and rivers since the onset of the warm weather in recent weeks.

Last month, seven people were rescued in three incidents in a week at Embleton, Newbiggin-by-the-Sea and Cresswell, Northumberland.

Yesterday Blyth lifeboat operations manager, John Scott, said Monday night’s incident on the beach at Meggie’s Burn could have been much more serious.

They had cuts and bruises and one of the females was being sick from swallowing water.

“They were very lucky because it was getting colder and darker and in another five or 10 minutes they could have been gone.

“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught by the tide, which pushed them up against the groynes.

“They were in the water for 10 or 15 minutes and this could have been quite a serious incident.

“The sea can be very inviting and exciting, but care must always be taken, especially when the daylight is fading.”

A coastguard spokeswoman said: “Apparently, these five had been wave-dodging and got into difficulty.

They managed to get ashore unaided and were assessed by paramedics before being allowed home. They had taken a bit of a pounding from the waves and rocks.”

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