A woman struggling through knee-deep mud on Brean beach was rescued by Burnham-On-Sea Coastguards and the BARB rescue hovercraft on Tuesday (August 27th).
Crews were called to the beach at 12.25pm after the beach warden raised the alarm.
“We were tasked to a woman who was struggling in some sticky knee-deep mud with an incoming tide creeping up behind her,” said a Coastguard spokesman.
“Time was of the essence and as soon as we arrived two of our team members quickly kitted up in mud rescue suits.”
“As they finished kitting up the BARB Search & Rescue team arrived, having launched their hovercraft from Burnham beach. The two mud rescue technicians immediately boarded the hovercraft and were flown out to the lady who was extremely tired having waded a good distance through the mud.”
“The mud techs sat the lady on a stretcher for a couple of minutes to ensure she was fit to travel and then she was helped onto the hovercraft and flown back to other Coastguard team members to ensure she was medically fit to be released from our care.”
“While she was resting on the stretcher she explained to the mud techs that her children had wandered off towards the mud and she was attempting to follow them to call them back, being smaller and lighter children can easily cover more distance before they sink than an adult can and this was exactly the case.”
“She was getting into difficulty and the suction of the mud quickly saps the energy of anyone who ventures out too far.”
“Thankfully she was able to get the children’s attention and send them back to the safety of the shore with other family members however she was now in a very tired state and was making very slow progress back to shore herself.”
“Without our assistance, she may have struggled to get back before the tide reached her so she was in a perilous position.”
