FIVE PEOPLE RESCUED OFF EXMOUTH SEAFRONT

Five people have been rescued from the water after their rowing boat upturned in the water off Exmouth seafront.

At 11.10 am several 999 calls came in to Brixham Coastguard to report that a rowing gig had upturned and several people were in the water near the RNLI Lifeboat Station.  Brixham Coastguard tasked Exmouth Coastguard Rescue Team and the Coastguard Rescue Helicopter from Portland and requested the launch of Exmouth RNLI Inshore Lifeboat.

The Rescue Helicopter picked up three people from the water at 11.21, and the Inshore Lifeboat recovered the two other casualties who were brought ashore and then transferred into the helicopter.  All five were then flown to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital in Exeter to be treated for mild hypothermia.

Brixham Coastguard Watch Manager Andy Huber said:

“Only two of the five people rescued were wearing lifejackets, although there were other lifejackets in the boat.  Although we understand that some people can find lifejackets restrictive when undertaking sports such as rowing, there are a wide variety of different lifejackets designed for rowing and other sports.  The water temperature today was twelve degrees Celsius with choppy seas, and in conditions like these it is not long before hypothermia sets in and without a lifejacket you will find it difficult to keep afloat.”

Popular posts from this blog

Label your kit at the coast

Image
Kayaks. Canoes. Paddleboards. What do they all have in common? They’re quite often found on the coastline or drifting out to sea. And if we don’t know who they belong to, we can spend time searching for an owner when they’re home safe and sound. So please help us to help you. Label your kit so that if you do get separated from it, and it turns up somewhere, we can get hold of you. In recent weeks, our Coastguard Rescue Teams have found numerous items such as kayaks and canoes drifting out at sea or abandoned near the shoreline. Unfortunately, some of the items we have found have not had their owners’ contact details written on them nor been reported as missing to the Coastguard. As a result, it makes it difficult for us to find out who it belongs to and also means we can never be completely sure if someone is safe or in the worst case, in trouble at sea. This can place a huge strain on our resources especially during the busy summer period when we have to call upon our Coastgua
Read more

A short history of HM Coastguard

Image
Today HM Coastguard is a world leader in maritime search and rescue. Looking back almost 200 years, the goods, which now travel by road, were carried by hundreds of small ships. Year in year out dozens of ships and hundreds of lives were lost within sight of the coast. Public shock and dismay at the tragedies drove forward the creation of national life saving organisations. Though it’s beginnings lie in those decades HM Coastguard originated not to meet the dangers of the seas but to combat a threat to the country’s economy and security – smuggling. As soon as medieval taxes were charged on imports and exports, people began smuggling. By 1743 th e estimate was that half the tea drunk in Britain was illegally imported and shows that smuggling was highly profitable. Smugglers have often been romanticised but the reality was brutal. Local people lived in fear, with violent reprisals on informers and the murder of revenue officers, while corruption enabled smugglers to evade harsh p
Read more

BOSCASTLE FLOODS: TEN YEARS ON

Image
Boscastle Flooding 16 th August 2004 The storms of Monday 16 August 2004 saw three weeks worth of rain fall in one day. The resulting water began to be funnelled down the valleys surrounding Boscastle and soon the steep roads became rivers. By the time that the water reached the picturesque village, it had picked up enough momentum to become a raging torrent, sweeping into buildings, washing cars away and felling huge trees. Graham King runs the Witches Museum in Boscastle and was also the station officer for the Boscastle Coastguard Rescue Team at the time of the floods: “ My museum is situated next to the harbour near the river ,” says Graham “ and I can see the coastguard equipment store from there. Initially I was concerned that the vehicle and equipment were going to become stranded but I soon began to realise how quickly the situation was deteriorating and called Falmouth Coastguard ” From that point on the villagers and tourists stranded in flood waters were he
Read more