Exmouth volunteers launch to two boats aground in river Exe
At 3.11pm on Sunday 11 September, inshore lifeboat George Bearman was tasked to assist a yacht with two adults and its rescue boat with four children and one adult on board, both aground in the Exe estuary.
In windy conditions, Crew volunteers were on scene by 3.40pm to assess the situation.
Helmsman, Scott Ranft describes the scene:
‘The inshore lifeboat was unable to get closer than 300m to the rescue boat with the children on board and the mud was knee deep so we couldn’t walk over to carry them off. We managed to reach the yacht further downstream but they were also aground. We gathered all their contact numbers and passed them to the Coastguard to continue the rescue. We had to leave the scene promptly to avoid grounding ourselves.’
George Bearman returned to station at 5.10pm and the casualties were rescued by Coastguard helicopter Rescue 106.
Notes to Editors
For more information please telephone Emma Tarling, Exmouth RNLI Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer on 07837 810082 or email: emmatarling@ymail.com.
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The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is the charity that saves lives at sea. Our volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service in the United Kingdom and Ireland from 238 lifeboat stations, including four along the River Thames and inland lifeboat stations at Loch Ness, Lough Derg, Enniskillen and Lough Ree. Additionally the RNLI has more than 1,000 lifeguards on over 240 beaches around the UK and operates a specialist flood rescue team, which can respond anywhere across the UK and Ireland when inland flooding puts lives at risk.
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