A COURAGEOUS lifeboat crew struggled against the tide to rescue two children stranded on a shingle bank.
The incredible actions of Team Selsey RNLI during the rescue in September 2020 aired this week on the BBC’s Saving Lives at Sea.
The volunteer team received several emergency calls reporting people stranded on the Kirk Arrow cobble bank on the west side of Selsey Hill.
Less than ten minutes after the pagers sounded, the crew were aboard the inshore lifeboat and headed full speed towards Kirk Arrow, which was to disappear under the tide within minutes.
Speaking on the BBC show, a volunteer said: “Kirk Arrow is a very large pebble sandbar which is about 150 yards from the beach, but it floods very quickly so that at as the tide rises, this bank is covered by the rising tide. ”
The crew then received a call indicating that a paddle boarder who was connected to the group had found itself in difficulty.
“We knew the tide was rising so we got over there to stop them from trying to do something that could endanger themselves more,” said a member of Selsey’s crew.
Within seconds, the people stranded on Kirk Arrow were in sight and a crew member spotted the paddleboard and a struggling man in the water nearby.
The “physically exhausted” man was helped to get on the lifeboat and quickly revealed he had taken out his paddleboard to try to save his children who were among those stranded.
One volunteer said his emotions “immediately changed” when he heard children were involved.
He said: “The biggest concern when it comes to kids stranded on Kirk Arrow is that you don’t want them trying to come back.
“Small people are washed away faster than older people. ”
Speaking after the event on the BBC show, the father said: “I knew the tide was rising and I was just worried what was going through their heads.
“I was really scared. The main thing I focused on was child safety.
Upon arriving at the shingle bank, they found their children – Katie, six, and Freddie, eight – and four adults who had been cut off by the tide.
Freddie said on the show that he was “the happiest he has ever been” after reuniting with his father.
He said, “I was so, so scared. I thought I would never see him again.
Saving Lives at Sea will air on BBC One every Tuesday and previous episodes are available on BBC iPlayer.
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Source: www.theargus.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-08-28 04:00:00
