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July
17, 2005
Young holidaymaker Neil Carruthers, of Erdington in the West Midlands had been washing sand and mud from his legs and feet when he stumbled off the edge of the town’s jetty and got into difficulties – but a lifeguard, Billy Marshall (19), who went to his rescue then also began to get fatigued in the fast-flowing water. As the pair were being swept away from the shore in the strong incoming tide, a second lifeguard raised the alarm and the Spirit Of Lelaina hovercraft – which was close by on training - flew to their aid. The duo were pulled to safety by the hovercraft crew and were then rushed back to safety of the beach.
“I dived in and swam out to him straight away but the current was so strong it was pulling me away and under the water too. "The boy was panicking and was distressed. My main aim was to keep his head above the water. I kept us both afloat until the hovercraft arrived.”
“Fortunately, the hovercraft was within a few hundred metres of the end of the jetty on training at the time. Our crew were able to rush onboard and pull the pair of them out within a matter of minutes of it happening. It’s fortunate we were there or it could have been a lot worse - this is a very dangerous stretch of water at that time of the tide.” Teresa
Carruthers, mother of the eight-year-old, said: “Neil was in a
filthy state, having been playing in the edge of the mud. I’d told
him to go and wash the mud off, but he dropped off the edge of the jetty
and within seconds was getting pulled out to sea by the strong currents.
I’m very relieved that the hovercraft was on scene.” RELATED LINKS:
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BURNHAM
COMMUNITY TOURISM
INFORMATION BURNHAM
TRAVEL
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A
lifeguard and an eight-year-old child were rescued by Burnham-On-Sea's
hovercraft crew at 13:00 hours on Sunday July 17.
Lifeguard
Billy Marshall (pictured) said: “I’d warned Neil and several
others to keep away from the water’s edge, especially given the
state of the tide, but he didn’t head the warning and stumbled
off the edge and got pulled out by the tide, going under the water twice.
Alan
Miller, chairman of BARB, the group that runs the Burnham hovercraft,
said: “They’re both very lucky. The tide had only changed
a couple of hours before and was coming in at its fastest speed when
the incident occurred.