The lifeboat Lady Barbara and Flint RNLI volunteer crew were taken by road to Greenfield Dock slipway where the lifeboat was launched. Whilst it was proceeding to the casualty, the crew received a message from Flint coastguard team to say two paragliders were on a sandbank up river from Flint Lifeboat Station.
The RNLI lifeboat arrived with the casualties at 10am, one of the paragliders managed to get airborne from the sandbank before the flooding tide covered it, the other paraglider was taken on board the lifeboat, and given a medical check, apart being cold he was okay, he was fitted with a survivors lifejacket.
The RNLI crew took his dismantled paraglider on board the lifeboat and returned to the Greenfield launch site at 10.50am where the casualty and his paraglider were landed safely.
The lifeboat returned to Flint lifeboat station at 12.35pm, and was ready for service at 1.30pm
Alan Forrester volunteer RNLI operations manager at Flint lifeboat station said:
'This was lifesaving service as no other vessels were in the area to assist the casualty, the person was not wearing a buoyancy aid, and the sandbank was completely covered by the incoming tide when the lifeboat departed the scene’.
Media Contacts
For further information, please contact Flint RNLI LIfeboat Press Officer Richard Polden on 01352 711185.
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
