Mother and daughter rescued by lifeguards

A mother and daughter were rescued by lifeguards patrolling Seaburn after being caught in a rip current whilst bodyboarding.

A young girl was bodyboardinginSeaburnataround 2.30pmonWednesday,August 17, when she began to drift out to sea.

But when the mother went to pull her closer, the pair became caught in a rip current and were dragged 50m away from the shore.

RNLI lifeguard David Batty was patrolling the beach between the red and yellow flags when a member of the public alerted him to the struggling pair.

He sprang into action, running 100m up the beach where heenteredthewaterwitharescue tube.

He swam out to the pair and towed them back onto the sandbanks. Luckily, neither of them had sustained any injuries.

Lead Lifeguard Supervisor SeanMillssaid:“Itwasbrilliant that they decided to visit a lifeguarded beach and swim between the red and yellow flags.

"This mean as soon as they found themselves in trouble, one of our lifeguards was on hand to help.”

Just a week later, on Saturday, RNLI lifeguards at Seaburn prevented five casualties when they helped a group to return to the shore before they became trapped by the tide.

They had been climbing onto the steels – a band of rocks leading out to the sea – just as it was approaching high tide.

Lifeguards Thomas Wright and Kai Tate encouraged the group to return to shore and assisted them across the rocks to safety.

Ten minutes later, the group would have been at least waist deep in water.