Burnham-On-Sea Coastguards were called out on Monday (April 27th) after a man suffered an injured ankle and a van got stuck on the town’s beach.
The team was called to the northern end of the beach near Burnham lighthouse at 12.20pm.
A spokesman said: “It’s been a quiet period for call outs which means that for the most part, everyone is adhering to the social distancing guidelines from the Government.”
“With the beach being the ideal place to get your daily exercise lots of people are out and about stretching their legs and walking their dogs etc.”
“A gentleman had a coming together with a dog which left him with an injured ankle.
When we arrived on scene he was on his feet and hobbling along the beach towards the town slip.”
“Before any approach was made we ensured that the Ambulance control room had questioned them regarding if he was displaying any COVID-19 symptoms.”
“Once we arrived we used our face masks and gloves combined with our PPE to ensure we were safe and following all our emergency procedures that have been implemented since the outbreak.”
“One of our team from a safe distance had a chat with the guy to run through the extent of his injury and our options of getting him off the beach.”
“It was ascertained that he was walking wounded and was able to slowly make it off the beach and home under his own steam.”
“With this situation dealt with we doubled back to a van that we had spotted stuck in the sand on our way to the injured person.”
“They had been working on repairing a wall of one of the properties and had become stuck in the soft sand.”
“As one of our team approached they asked for a tow out to which we had to inform them that under our operating procedures we are unable to tow vehicles.”
A heated discussion was reported to have taken place by the Coastguards with one of the van’s occupants unhappy at not being able to be rescued. The Coastguard team stood down and returned to their station. The van was later recovered from the beach without the assistance of the rescue services.
“We headed back to station where all the equipment used underwent full decontamination as a team we are being extra careful all team members ensured they were fully washed down even though there was no contact with any persons or each other.”
“We are doing our bit to stop the spread and it is important to ensure we are fully fit to respond when needed. If you have an emergency while out having your daily exercise along the coast, dial 999 and ask for the Coastguard.”
