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Burnham
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Published:
August 26, 2007
Burnham-On-Sea
hovercraft rescues teenage autistic child from mud
Burnham-On-Sea's hovercraft flew to the rescue of an autistic
teenager stranded on mudflats at Brean on Sunday afternoon (August
26th).
The Spirit Of Lelaina hovercraft was called out at 1.29pm
by Coastguards after the girl's carers alerted a beach warden
to her being "panic-struck" in knee-deep mud.
 Two
members of Burnham's Coastguard Mud Rescue Team waded out to comfort
the distressed girl, who was several hundred yards from the safety
of the beach.
The hovercraft then plucked her from the mud and flew her back
to the shore where she was met by her relieved carers.
Burnham RNLI's D-Class lifeboat, Puffin, was also launched (pictured
below) as a precaution because the tide was coming in at the time.
Carer Sarah Day, from Stroud in Gloucestershire, explained: "We'd
been walking out across the beach when she just began sinking
into the mud."
 "She
was struck with panic and we didn't want her to move and risk
getting into further difficulty, so we alerted the beach warden,
who in turn contacted Coastguards and the hovercraft."
She added: "I am very grateful that everyone acted so quickly
and treated her in such a calm way."
The incident came on the same day that BARB, the charity which
runs Burnham's rescue hovercrafts, celebrated its 15th year of
life-saving along Somerset's coastline. Hundreds of supporters
visited its seafront station to find out more about its work.
RELATED
LINKS:
Burnham-On-Sea Hovercraft Official Web site
BBC Online coverage of this incident
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