Sea rescue launched to children 'in trouble' off Redcar coast

Lifeboat volunteers raced to find two children in "trouble" off the Redcar coast before being sent to help beachgoers cut off by the tide.

Redcar RNLI received a call on Friday evening reporting two children in trouble in the sea just opposite Zetland Park, Redcar. The Eileen May Loach-Thomas was launched to carry out the rescue but fortunately, the children managed to make it back to the shore unaided.

Mark McGuire, Launch Authority at Redcar RNLI Lifeboat Station, said: 'The Coastguard received a call from a member of the public saying that two children looked like they were in trouble. We immediately launched our D class lifeboat the Eileen May Loach-Thomas, to carry out the rescue. The crew were stood down once it was realised that the kids were safely back on to the beach."

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The incident was among four callouts in 24 hours. The crew’s pagers first sounded at 6.11pm on Friday evening followed by three call outs on Saturday, May 11, with call outs to Newport Bridge at 5.06am, another at 2.38pm to Redcar Scars and the final call of the day occurring at 6.26pm, again at Redcar.

Saturday’s early morning shout was to help carry out a search of the river around Newport Bridge. Reports had been received of a person climbing on the bridge superstructure. The shout was resolved without incident and the Atlantic 85 lifeboat the Leicester Challenge 111 was stood down after a search of the area failed to find anyone. The potential casualty was thought to have left the scene.

Redcar’s volunteer crew responded once again later that afternoon after the coastguard received a report of two separate groups of people being cut off by the tide on Redcar Scars between the Beacon and the cinema. One group managed to get back to the shore unaided while a crew member climbed out of the D class lifeboat onto the scars and guided two people back to safety from their precarious position.

Saturday was rounded off with a shout to help rescue a casualty who was spotted hanging onto a capsized jet ski 30 metres off the slipway, opposite Redcar Lifeboat Station. The casualty had been hanging onto the side of the jet ski for over 20 minutes before a passing Redcar RNLI crew member spotted what was happening and called the Coastguard.

The D class lifeboat was launched once again. The crew retrieved the casualty from the water and started to administer casualty care once they had him on board the lifeboat. The volunteers continued the casualty care until the ambulance service arrived and took over.

Ben Cutter, Helm on the D class, said: 'The casualty seemed reluctant to let go of the jet ski resulting in one of our crew members having to enter the sea to retrieve him. The casualty was very cold and exhausted. We estimated that he may have been in the water for 40 minutes. It serves as a good reminder to everyone that if you think you see someone in trouble in the water always ring 999 and ask for the Coastguard."