Barrow Lifeboats Called to Reports of a Person in the Water
Volunteer crew from Barrow’s Lifeboat Station launched both their lifeboats late last night following reports of a person in the water west of Walney Island.
The call for assistance came from the regional HM Coastguard base in Holyhead at 11-02pm who requested that both the inshore and all-weather lifeboats were launched in order to search for the casualty.
The crew was paged and the inshore lifeboat, ‘Vision of Tamworth’ was launched at 11-20pm with Ben Jackson at the helm assisted by Mike Harris and Saul Tomlin. The all-weather lifeboat, ‘Grace Dixon’, was launched ten minutes later under the command of Coxswain, Shaun Charnley, assisted by five crew. The lifeboats were on the scene at 11-45pm where they commenced a search of the shoreline off Biggar Bank. At 11-52pm HM Coastguard advised that the casualty had been located by Cumbria Police on the beach close to the end of Sandy Gap Lane and had been placed into the care of the North West Ambulance Service. Furness and Millom Coastguard Rescue Teams were also in attendance and along with the lifeboats were stood down at 11-55pm.
With the casualty safe, the lifeboats returned to the boathouse at 0-30am where they were washed down and made ready for the next launch.
The weather at the time of the incident was fine and clear. The wind was north north-westerly, Force 1-2, and the high tide had passed 10-28pm with a predicted height of 8.3 metres.
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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.
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