Published: July 1, 2010
Burnham hovercraft in night rescue of man stuck on beach

A 21-year-old man who was stranded in mud on Weston beach has been rescued by Burnham-On-Sea's rescue hovercraft and a team of Coastguards early this morning (Thursday, July 1st).

Crewmembers from Burnham-based BARB were paged at 2am by Coastguards amid concern for the welfare of the man, who was on the beach south of Weston Pier.

BARB's Spirit Of Lelaina hovercraft was driven by road to Weston, where it launched from the beach and flew two Weston Coastguards out to the casualty, who was one mile from the shore.

The man's location was pin-pointed by an RAF rescue helicopter, which illuminated a large area of the beach from overhead.

The casualty was showing early signs of hypothermia and was taken onboard the hovercraft before being flown across the mudflats to the beach, where he was met by paramedics and Coastguards.

Great Western Ambulance paramedic Neil Morgan said the man was taken to Weston General Hospital for further observation.

Tristam Newey, Coastguard Manager for the Severn Sector, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "This was a good multi-agency rescue that demonstrated how well the teams work together. The BARB hovercraft again proved ideal during this incident."

It has been a busy week for BARB, which helped to rescue nine people from the mudflats next to Brean Down last Saturday and was also called out on Sunday to search for a missing child.

RELATED LINKS:

Official BARB Web site