Burnham-On-Sea’s RNLI lifeboats were featured in an episode of BBC TV series Saving Lives At Sea on Thursday (October 6th).
In the episode that aired on BBC2, the Burnham-On-Sea lifeboats were shown being called out to reports of the crash landing of a ‘hot air balloon’ in the sea.
The incident in May 2021 was reported here by Burnham-On-Sea.com when lifeboats and Coastguards rushed to the waters off Hinkley Point.
Fortunately, it turned out to be several birthday helium balloons and a breadbasket that had looked similar to a hot air balloon from a distance.
“It was a call with good intent, as from the distance that the first informant had seen the balloons falling from the sky, it would have been easily mistaken as a hot air balloon,” said a Coastguard spokesman at the time, thanking the Burnham-On-Sea RNLI lifeboat crew.
“On such a beautiful evening it would have been the perfect evening to have seen hot air balloons in the sky.”
“The informant did exactly the right thing and within seconds of calling 999 and asking for the Coastguard, there were rescue teams, lifeboats and rescue helicopters being despatched to the area.”
The episode of Saving Lives at Sea is available online here and also featured the work of the RNLI in Eastbourne responding to a boat fire; a Cornwall RNLI lifeguard racing to the rescue of a surfer caught in a rip current; and the Blyth crew searching for a dog swept out to sea.
