FIVE RESCUED FROM RIP CURRENT AT MAWGAN PORTH
Just after 7pm this evening Falmouth Coastguard received a 999 call reporting five persons in difficulties having been caught in a rip current at Mawgan Porth, north of Newquay, Cornwall.
The group from one family included a father and four children who were overcome by the waves and the rip current. With the surf reported to be four to five feet and the river that flows into the sea being heavy with flood water, the rip current was very strong. No lifeguards are on duty at that time of the evening.
Newquay Coastguard Rescue Team (CRT), both Newquay RNLI lifeboats and the rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose were all immediately tasked to the incident. The Ambulance service was also informed of the incident.
Before the rescue units arrived on scene, the mother of the family had rescued her nine year old daughter, and a local surfer, in an outstanding effort against considerable surf and current, rescued a fourteen year old boy. Further out the father had managed to push his sixteen year old daughter onto a rock but he and his eleven year old daughter were swept further out to sea.
A rescue swimmer from Newquay CRT entered the water and reached the sixteen year old girl who was being pounded by waves. Before he brought her back to the beach she was able to tell her rescuer where her father and sister were as they could not be seen from the shore. The sea around the rocks was described by the rescue units on scene as "boiling".
As the rescue swimmer brought the girl back to safety the Newquay inshore lifeboat rescued the remaining two casualties who were clinging to rocks in a gully. The other Newquay Lifeboat and the SAR helicopter stood by during this part of the rescue operation in support.
With all five casualties safely on the beach they were assessed by paramedics from South West Ambulance (SWAST). All of the casualties were cold and shaken by their ordeal but none required further medical treatment. They were discharged by the paramedics and then returned to their holiday campsite.
Allan Loveday, Watch Officer Falmouth Coastguard advised that "if you are not familiar with the area do not go into the water after the lifeguards have gone off duty. These conditions were extreme and this incident could easily have ended in tragedy".
The group from one family included a father and four children who were overcome by the waves and the rip current. With the surf reported to be four to five feet and the river that flows into the sea being heavy with flood water, the rip current was very strong. No lifeguards are on duty at that time of the evening.
Newquay Coastguard Rescue Team (CRT), both Newquay RNLI lifeboats and the rescue helicopter from RNAS Culdrose were all immediately tasked to the incident. The Ambulance service was also informed of the incident.
Before the rescue units arrived on scene, the mother of the family had rescued her nine year old daughter, and a local surfer, in an outstanding effort against considerable surf and current, rescued a fourteen year old boy. Further out the father had managed to push his sixteen year old daughter onto a rock but he and his eleven year old daughter were swept further out to sea.
A rescue swimmer from Newquay CRT entered the water and reached the sixteen year old girl who was being pounded by waves. Before he brought her back to the beach she was able to tell her rescuer where her father and sister were as they could not be seen from the shore. The sea around the rocks was described by the rescue units on scene as "boiling".
As the rescue swimmer brought the girl back to safety the Newquay inshore lifeboat rescued the remaining two casualties who were clinging to rocks in a gully. The other Newquay Lifeboat and the SAR helicopter stood by during this part of the rescue operation in support.
With all five casualties safely on the beach they were assessed by paramedics from South West Ambulance (SWAST). All of the casualties were cold and shaken by their ordeal but none required further medical treatment. They were discharged by the paramedics and then returned to their holiday campsite.
Allan Loveday, Watch Officer Falmouth Coastguard advised that "if you are not familiar with the area do not go into the water after the lifeguards have gone off duty. These conditions were extreme and this incident could easily have ended in tragedy".
