TODDLER IN DUNE DRAMA
A FATHER and his two-year-old son had to be rescued by firefighters after getting lost in a large sand dunes system in bad weather.
The young boy was suffering from mild hypothermia when they were found soaked through and shivering in heavy rain and high winds.
Both had been dressed in just a T-shirt and shorts when they got lost in the Merthyr Mawr sand dunes near Bridgend.
A spokesman for Bridgend fire station said the boy’s condition was deteriorating rapidly when they were found on Wednesday evening.
He has urged people exploring Wales during their holidays to carry wet weather gear with them as the weather can change quickly.
“They were under-prepared for the bad weather,” he said.
“If you’re going anywhere in Wales don’t underestimate the weather. It wouldn’t have been long for that boy to take a turn for the worse.”
He said the father and son were from Aldershot in Hampshire and had been staying at the Trecco Bay caravan park in Porthcawl.
They had walked to the beach from the car park earlier in the day and then got lost on the way back.
Having rung the fire service for help, the dad was patched through to firefighters in Bridgend who tried to use their local knowledge to guide him out.
“We soon realised he had no idea where he was so we turned out,” said the spokesman.
They had advised the man to head to the beach but then the phone signal cut out and they weren’t sure he had heard them.
One appliance and a rescue tender went to the dunes car park.
Seven firefighters then combed the dunes from the car park to the beach for around an hour.
After they found the pair they wrapped the boy in blankets and carried him to a paramedic waiting in the car park. The father was able to follow on foot.
An ambulance service spokesman said: “We were called at shortly before 5.55pm on Wednesday to the car park at Merthyr Mawr.
“We sent a paramedic in a rapid response vehicle and a man and a boy were treated at the scene but did not require hospital treatment.”