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Multi-agency response after forty people are cut off by tide at Margate

Lifeboats News Release

A major rescue operation was launched in the early hours of today following reports of 40 people cut off by the tide and one person in difficulties in the sea to the east of Margate.

Margate RNLI B class lifeboat 'Colonel Stock'

RNLI Margate

Margate RNLI B class lifeboat 'Colonel Stock'

Soon after midnight today (Thursday 20 July) UK Coastguard received reports of 40 people cut off by the tide at Botany Bay around two miles east of Margate.

A major rescue operation was launched involving Margate and Ramsgate RNLI’s B class inshore lifeboats along with Ramsgate RNLI’s all-weather lifeboat acting as On-scene Coordinator. Coastguard Rescue Teams from Margate and Herne Bay were tasked along with the coastguard rescue helicopter from Lydd Airport, Kent Police also responding with a large number of units. Once on scene coastguard officers were informed that a naked male had entered the sea and was heard to be calling for help, he was not seen to leave the water.

The shoreside responders were able to guide the group to the safety of the clifftop via a cliff path, meanwhile a search operation got under way to locate the reported person in the sea. The seaward search included the use of parachute illuminating flares, searchlights and airborne electronic detection aids with coastguard units carrying out a shoreline search.

Conditions were benign with little or no tidal effect restricting the search area to close inshore between North Foreland and Walpole Bay, Margate. After three hours of searching with the initial group safely recovered to the clifftop and no further reports of any missing persons the search was terminated and the rescue units released.

Lee Button, Deputy Launching Authority, Margate RNLI said: “All involved were faced with a potentially serious mass-casualty rescue operation, all in the dark. As well as the immediate concern for the reported person in the water there was the risk that some of the group would attempt to make their own way to safety complicating an already complex operation. Thankfully the shoreside teams were able to assist the group to safety and we urge people to think of the potential for being cut off by the tide when on beaches in the area.”

Notes to editors

· Margate lifeboat station has been operating since 1860. To learn more about the lifeboat station go to: https://rnli.org/find-my-nearest/lifeboat-stations/margate-lifeboat-station

RNLI media contacts

For more information please contact:

· Peter Barker, RNLI volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer on 07974 064304 or [email protected]

· Paul Dunt, Regional Media Officer (South East) on 0207 6207416, 07786 668825 or [email protected]

· RNLI Press Office on 01202 336789.

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.

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