Multi-service incident at Prestatyn beach

The RNLI lifeboat volunteers were paged at 4.45pm on Sunday 7 July, together with local coastguard volunteers. The incident was reported by the rescue co-ordinating centre at Holyhead, as a person with a broken ankle on the beach by the Nova Centre. Both of the RNLI lifeboats at Rhyl were launched so that Prestatyn RNLI lifeguards could be assisted by the crews, together with the crew being able to administer pain-relieving Entonox until the ambulance arrived.
The air ambulance was also tasked from Caernarvon, as it turned out that the casualty was a male who had gone in the sea to assist two children in difficulty, but had sustained fractures to both ankles. There was a possibility of the other two casualties requiring treatment.
The lifeboats arrived on scene, and together with the coastguards and lifeguards, made the casualty as safe as possible.
Soon after, the ambulance arrived, and the casualty was taken to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, together with one of the others who had ingested a lot of salt water. The rescue services were then released and returned to station.

Coxswain Martin Jones of Rhyl lifeboat said ' Once again, this was an operation successfully carried out by multiple agencies, to ensure the safety of the casualties. We hope the patients have a full recovery from their ordeal'.

The incident proved the valuable asset of having lifeguards at the beach to speed up any rescues.

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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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