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Burnham
Hovercraft Home Page > Burnham Hovercraft
News Archive
April
16, 2006
Stranded
vehicle pulled from sea by Burnham's hovercraft crew
Burnham-On-Sea's
hovercraft crew came to the rescue of four jet skiers whose van
had become stranded in the sea on Sunday, April 16th.
 Crowds
of Easter holidaymakers lined the town's seafront to watch the
incident after the Volkswagen van's wheels became stuck in mud
as its owners tried to load two jet skis onboard near the town's
jetty.
With
one person trapped inside, the vehicle was quickly engulfed by
the fast-incoming tide and its owners were unable to free it.
Burnham's
hovercraft crew were called to the scene and used several lengths
of rope tied to their rescue truck to pull the stranded vehicle
free. It later emerged that one of the jet skiers had been trapped
inside after the van's doors dead locked.
 The
owner of the vehicle, Matt Blakeman, 25, from Clevedon, said:
"The van got stuck on a bank of mud and wouldn't budge. Within
a few short minutes, the tide quickly engulfed the van and we
were facing big problems."
"Fortunately,
the hovercraft crew were close by and quickly came to our rescue,
pulling the van out by a combination of pulleys and ropes."
"We're
very grateful to them - I'm convinced that without their help,
we would have lost the van altogether."
The
rescue was co-ordinated by hovercraft crew members Pete Emery
and Andy Croker, who are pictured alongside a relieved Matt Blakeman.
 It
is the fourth incident in just a week involving stranded vehicles
along a five mile stretch of coastline between Burnham and Brean
Down.
Last
weekend, an Audi
was rescued by Coastguards on Burnham beach; on Wednesday
a builder's truck became briefly stuck in sand near Maddocks Slade
in Burnham; and in the middle of the week a Range
Rover was lost in thick mud at Brean.
RELATED
LINKS:
Video footage of the van in the
waves
Video footage of the van being
pulled from the sea
Official
BARB Web site home page
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