Heroes of New Brighton sea rescue

Aug 19 2009 by Vicki Kellaway, Wallasey News

Heroes of sea rescue

FOUR terrified teenagers were plucked from the sea after becoming stranded in rising tides.

Two boys and two girls, all 15, were left bloodied and bruised after scrambling on to rocks to escape the deepening sea.

A volunteer lifeboat crew found them huddled together and near hysterical when they rescued them off the coast at New Brighton on Monday night.

The crew battled growing waves and put themselves in danger because they feared the children would be swept away before they could be saved.

The rescue unfolded at 7pm after the teenagers went swimming with no lifeguard on duty at Harrison Drive.

They panicked when the water suddenly became too deep.

The teens dragged one of the girls on to a bodyboard and reached a man-made coastal defence.

It was covered in barnacles which cut the children as they climbed it.

One teenager, Craig Favager, later went to Arrowe Park Hospital with a deep cut on his foot.

He said: “When we went out there to swim it was waist height and was fine.

“But then it dropped suddenly. We got to the rock but we struggled to get up.

“It was really frightening.”

Crewmen Mark Bland, Mike Plaskett and Lee Arnall raced to the scene and rescued the teenagers in pairs after battling to steady the lifeboat in increasingly choppy water.

Mr Bland, the boat’s helmsman, said: “We could see the lads trying to comfort the girls. Lee went on to the rocks which immediately gave them all a boost.

“The waves were starting to break and they were in real danger of being swept away. It was clearly very traumatic for them. The girls were near hysterical.”

The children were rushed to the Lifeboat station on King’s Parade, new Brighton, where staff treated them before paramedics arrived.