Burnham RNLI Home Page > Burnham RNLI Launch Archive

August 19, 2004
Brean Down mud rescue bid for Burnham Lifeboat

Burnham-On-Sea's lifeboat was launched on Thursday August 19 to help rescue a father and son who had got into difficulties in dangerous mud on the beach at Brean Down, near Burnham-On-Sea.

The Staines Whitfield lifeboat, with helm Nick Prout and three crew onboard, was launched shortly after 15:00 hours at the request of the coastguard.

The alarm had been raised by Brean Down's Beach Warden after Mark Caddick (pictured below) and his eight-year-old son Matthew from Walsall, near Birmingham, were spotted knee-deep in mud approximately three quarters of a mile from Brean Down.

Burnham-On-Sea RNLI's lifeboat stood by as Burnham's hovercraft and Coastguard Mud Rescue Team picked up the father and son, then took them back to the safety of dry land where paramedics checked them over and gave them the all-clear.

The pair had ignored warnings about the dangerous mud and walked out to the sea, which was at low tide, to sail a dinghy, but after half a mile had become exhausted in the thick mud.

Burnham's lifeboat took two members of the Coastguard Mud Rescue Team back to Burnham-On-Sea at approximately 17:00 hours.

The conditions were calm with a Westerly force 3 and slight sea conditions.

For more details about the Burnham Hovercraft's role in this rescue, click here.

See the Burnham-On-Sea RNLI Home Page

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Please contact the Burnham-On-Sea RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager Martin Cox or telephone Burnham-On-Sea RNLI's Lifeboat Administration Officer, Clare Rundle, on 01278 781123.