Foreign vehicle swamped on Holy Island Causeway

Two occupants had managed to reach the refuge box after abandoning their vehicle.

On arrival, the lifeboat crew found a horsebox type campervan partially submerged. The occupants, who were foreign nationals, spoke very little English, and were rescued from the refuge box and landed safely on the mainland side, where they were handed into the care of local coastguard officers.

Coastguard units from Seahouses and Holy island had also been mobilised.

Safe crossing times for 23 March 2019 were from 8:20am till 1:50pm, and unsafe to cross again till 8:50pm. High tide was 4:20pm, and it was a high spring tide.

Seahouses Lifeboat Operations Manager Ian Clayton commented: 'We suspect that language problems may have contributed to this incident. Fortunately both vehicle occupants were safely brought ashore and neither required medical assistance.'

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For more information please contact Ian Clayton, RNLI Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer on: 07981 069177.

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