Shropshire mother and boys in sea rescue
Wednesday 20th April 2011, 3:29PM BST.
A SHROPSHIRE MOTHER and two boys had to be rescued by the coastguard after she swam for a mile to rescue the youngsters when their tiny inflatable dinghy drifted out to sea.
The boys, aged seven and eight, were playing in a dinghy off the coast of Pwllheli in Gwynedd yesterday when the waves suddenly carried them further out.
The pair, one from Muxton in Telford and the other from Wrexham, were stranded, leaving their mothers frantic on the shore.
In a bid to rescue them, the mother from Telford jumped into the water and swam for a mile before reaching the dinghy and exhaustedly clinging onto the side.
A huge operation was launched yesterday at 4pm with about 20 staff from the coastguard involved in the rescue.
A spokeswoman for Holyhead Coastguard said the other mother called the emergency services.
“The mother of one of the boys was quite hysterical on the phone saying they (the boys) had been taken out to sea and that the mother of the other boy had gone in after them,” she said.
“She was hysterical on the shore watching it. The other mother swam after them and she swam about a mile. She was very cold and tired and just hung onto the side of the dinghy until the lifeboat rescued them.
“About 20 people were working on the operation. We sent the coastguard, a life boat and a helicopter.
“The lifeboat located them and took them all on board and an ambulance came to check them over, but they were not taken to hospital.”
The spokeswoman said dinghies should only be used in the sea if they are secured with a rope.
She added: “This was a very serious incident but from the time when we got the call, at 4pm, we had them all in the boat by 4.14pm. It was a very quick rescue.
“It shows how important the Holyhead Coastguard is.”
By Jason Lavan
UK News
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