Airlift drama for women on beach

AN EVENING dog walk turned into an emergency rescue for two women who got cut off by the tide.

Caitlin Thomas and Clare Allen, from Pontypridd, took Caitlin’s dog for a walk on Saturday evening.

They decided to go to Monknash Beach in the Vale of Glamorgan to enjoy the fine weather, but what should have been quite a relaxing stroll turned in to quite an experience for the two young women.

The friends, both 25, found themselves being airlifted to safety after the tide came in rapidly.

Caitlin said: “We were walking my dog, Alfie, along Monknash Beach which we had never been to before.

“It’s a beautiful beach but we weren’t familiar with the area or the tides. In hindsight, we definitely should have looked into this more before going.

“We walked east along the beach to a section with more cliffs.

“We were in that part of the beach for about half an hour and then we thought about making our way back home.

“We started walking back around but quickly noticed the terrain had changed a lot.

“We’d walked there along sand, but now the only path was large rocks.

“We looked ahead and realised that the tide had come in a lot and our route had been blocked off.

“It then became clear why that part of the beach was so quiet.”

The waves were strong and the women soon realised it was dangerous to stay were they were alone.

It was wet and there was another two hours before high tide, so the sea was still coming in fast.

Caitlin wasn’t worried for herself, but she began to become anxious for her dog. They decided to call 999 for advice.

She said: “We just wanted to find out if it was safe to wait really – we didn’t want to bring the coastguard out just because we hadn’t taken proper care.

“But the man on the phone was lovely and said he’d be sending a lifeboat right away.

“The RNLI and the coastguard came really quickly – someone swam out to us but the boat couldn’t land because of the strong swell and the rocks.

“The RNLI volunteers were amazing, but Alfie wasn’t enjoying it very much.

“He was quite scared of the strong waves.”

The girls were told the boat wouldn’t be able to land because the conditions were too dangerous so the coastguard sent a helicopter.

Caitlin was worried that Alfie wouldn’t want to come with the crew but, luckily, he made it to safety.

She said she couldn’t believe that a helicopter had to come to save them, but she’s so grateful they did.

“We felt awful that we’d caused such a fuss,” she added.

“Alfie was really good and calm, despite the scary situation.

“We’ll definitely be mindful of the tides in future, and always make sure we have a good exit path available.”

The RNLI confirmed it received reports of two people and a dog being cut off below the high cliffs west of Nash Point at 5pm on Saturday. Both Porthcawl’s lifeboats were launched and headed east towards the area where the casualties had been reported trapped by the incoming tide.

They worked with Llantwit Coastguard to locate the casualties.

A request was later made for the SAR helicopter to winch the two casualties and their dog to safety.