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Published:
January 4, 2007
Man
rescued from the sea at Brean after dramatic night search
A
man is in hospital after being pulled from the sea by rescuers
at Brean in
the early hours of Thursday morning (January 4th).
Burnham-On-Sea
Coastguards, Police and two lifeboats were called out at 4am to
search for a 31-year-old on the beach opposite the Pontins holiday
camp after reports of a domestic incident.
An
11-strong team of Burnham Coastguards carried out a torch-lit
search of the beach after the man could not initially be found.
"The
man was then found in the sea, waist-deep in water. Given the
strong incoming tide with force six gales and cold temperatures,
the chances of survival were very low so it was vital that we
got him out of there as soon as possible," said Burnham-On-Sea
Coastguard Steve Bird.
The
man was kept in sight with torches and flares while Coastguards
persuaded the man to come into the shallower water where he was
met by paramedics and taken to Weston General Hospital in an ambulance.
"He
was extremely cold and completely soaked through," said Mr
Bird.
Both
of Burnham's lifeboats were on the scene and helped to provide
valuable communications, standing 200 yards offshore.
"The
conditions out there tonight were horrendous and it was borderline
whether the boats should go out. The crews did a superb job,"
added Mr Bird.
RELATED
LINKS:
Burnham-On-Sea
Coastguard
Burnham-On-Sea RNLI
Photo:
Mike Lang
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