Morecambe lifeboat crews issue warning after spate of weekend rescues

Lifeboat crews have issued a warning after a nine-year-old boy was among three people rescued after getting stuck in dangerous conditions over the weekend.
Two motorists were rescued after their vehicles were submerged near Sunderland Point.Two motorists were rescued after their vehicles were submerged near Sunderland Point.
Two motorists were rescued after their vehicles were submerged near Sunderland Point.

The boy got stuck in mud and a dangerous gully while playing on the sands near the Stone Jetty in Morecambe on Saturday afternoon.

Morecambe’s RNLI lifeboat crew and HM Coastguard were called to the area just after 6pm and launched a rescue hovercraft to free the boy.

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“We want people to enjoy the bay but we do recommend that they keep to the designated beaches,” an RNLI spokesman said.

Two motorists were rescued after their vehicles were submerged near Sunderland Point.Two motorists were rescued after their vehicles were submerged near Sunderland Point.
Two motorists were rescued after their vehicles were submerged near Sunderland Point.

“If it looks muddy then it probably is; making it dangerous to walk on. Gullies, where this young man had become trapped, are particularly hazardous.”

Just hours earlier, two people had to clamber onto the roof of a van to escape rising waters from an incoming tide further up the bay at Snatchems.

Rescuers reached them just in time as a woman’s car became almost fully submerged in the rising waters on Friday afternoon.

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Volunteer lifeboat crews were called out at around 12.20pm when the casualties were spotted on the roof of a van, which had been cut off by the tide on the causeway between Overton and Sunderland Point.

Lifeboat crew found both vehicles caught out by the tide, with the car almost fully submerged with only its roof visible.

The driver had to abandon her vehicle and and seek refuge on the roof of the van with the other driver.

Both were brought on board the lifeboat and taken safely to shore at Overton.

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Lifeboat crews are now warning people to take care and heed the warning signs around the hazardous bay during the busy summer months.

“We strongly advise people to comply with the warning signs and respect the water by checking the time and height of tide before venturing out onto the causeway as the road floods quickly and you can easily be stranded,” Morecambe RNLI volunteer deputy launching authority Colin Midwinter said.

“If you are unfortunate enough to get caught, we recommend that you do as these people did; get as high above the water as you can, call for help and wait to be rescued.

“Don’t be tempted to try and walk or swim to shore. Once flooded, the area has deep hidden channels and gullies as well as strong underwater currents.”

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Meanwhile, crews were also called out to search for a missing man.

Police called for assistance to search for the man along a section of the River Lune in the early hours of Saturday.

The inshore lifeboat and inshore rescue hovercraft were both launched onto the flooding tide at around 12.15am and searched the river from the Millennium Bridge in Lancaster to Condor Green.

“Although the weather was fine, the search proved to be hazardous due to the amount of debris in the river; washed down during the recent heavy rain,” Morecambe lifeboat crews reported.

The operation was eventually called off by Coastguard Command at 1.50am when police confirmed that the missing person had been found safe.

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