Double incident sparks tide warning from Coastguard

A senior coastal officer has urged walkers to check tide times, following five people calling for help within minutes of each other on the same stretch of coast.

Graham Easton has issued the safety warning after two groups found themselves cut off by the tide at the base of Seven Sisters and Birling Gap cliffs on Saturday, calling 999 within eight minutes of each other.

It follows four people also finding themselves cut off by the tide at the famous fossil beach at Lyme Regis earlier this month.

View from the helicopter of three of the people cut off by the tide at the bottom of Seven Sisters on Saturday                                                                                                                                                                                                              Picture: MCA


At 1.49pm on Saturday, HM Coastguard received a 999 call from a family of three reporting they had become trapped on the beach at Seven Sisters. Newhaven, Birling Gap and Eastbourne Coastguard Rescue Teams, Newhaven RNLI lifeboat, and Sussex Police were sent to help. The Newhaven lifeboat found the three people and requested the assistance of the Coastguard helicopter from Lydd in rescuing them.

All three were winched to safety.




Meanwhile, HM Coastguard also received a 999 call reporting two people also cut off further along the coast at Birling Gap at 1.57pm. Birling Gap and Eastbourne Coastguard Rescue Teams and Sussex Police were sent. Both people were recovered to safety by the police.

Graham Easton, Senior Coastal Operations Officer for HM Coastguard, said: “It is wonderful to see so many people enjoying our coasts and taking advantage of the beautiful coastal walks.

“But not everyone knows that some of these walks pass through areas that are impassable at times due to high tide and it can be too easy to lose track of your surroundings and find yourself in trouble, like this family.

“They went for a walk along the beach, the tide came in, and suddenly they were stuck on that beach with the water coming towards them. While we were dealing with this incident, we got a call about two other people also cut off by the tide just down the coast, we are seeing a lot of incidents like this and they are always a race against time.

“We don’t want to prevent people from enjoying the fresh air but we ask that any time you go near a coast, check tide times and know what to expect.”

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