A father and son were flown to safety by hovercrafts at Brean on Saturday (May 17th) after being spotted struggling in deep mud.
The village’s beach warden raised the alarm after seeing the two men wading through thick mud next to Brean Down.
Coastguards alerted Burnham’s BARB Search & Rescue, whose two hovercrafts were already in the area training at nearby Berrow beach.
The hovercrafts were flown to the scene to check on their welfare and the two men were taken onboard and flown back to the beach, accompanied by Burnham Coastguards.
BARB Deputy Operations Manager Graham Hallsworth, who led the operation, said: “The men were around a half mile from the shore and were covered head to toe in mud and moving very slowly, so the beach warden was rightly concerned about their welfare.”
“Fortunately, both our crafts were already in the area so we were able to quickly redeploy to help them. We worked with the Coastguards to bring the pair back to the beach.”
Both were checked over by Coastguards and did not require medical attention.
Coastguard officer Ian Jefferies said: “The incident serves as a timely warning about the potential dangers of wading across the mud to reach the sea – our advice is always not to put yourself in danger.”
The BARB hovercrafts were training at Berrow when they were re-deployed
