Published: July 25, 2012
Hovercrafts in beach search after group of walkers gets into difficulty

Hovercrafts and Coastguards carried out a search of the mudflats at Brean on Wednesday evening (July 25th) after a group of four people were reported to be in difficulty.

Brean's beachwarden alerted Coastguards at 5.15pm after spotting the walkers struggling through waist-deep mud half a mile from the shore in an attempt to reach the sea.

A team of Burnham Coastguards and two rescue hovercrafts from BARB (Burnham Area Rescue Boat) were called to the scene.

A man and three children managed to get back to the shore, but concerns about a further two walkers led to the shoreline being searched using The Light Of Elizabeth rescue hovercraft.

Brean beachwarden Dave Furber told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "The four people were a long way from the shore and carried on walking when I called. When they reached the deeper mud, my concern increased and the Coastguard was contacted."

Burnham Coastguard Station Officer Steve Bird said: "This incident serves as a fresh reminder about not walking across the mudflats. People can quickly get into difficulty."

The incident comes just four days after a group of Spanish holidaymakers was walked to safety by Coastguards after getting into difficulty in the same area.