Meet the four Mablethorpe lifeguards who have helped save lives this month

The first of the four most recent incidents occurred on Saturday August 7, when lifeguard Henry Houlden rescued two young siblings after a rip current appeared and swept them out to sea.

During patrols at around 4pm, Henry noticed a rip current had appeared near some rocks where the two teenagers were swimming, which had swept the brother and sister past the rocks and out to sea.

Both remained calm and waited for Henry to rescue them. The lifeguard quickly entered the water with a rescue tube, where he helped to support the 13-year-old boy.

The boy’s older sister had managed to swim out and around the rip and back to shore by herself. Henry guided the teenage boy back to the shore, where he was reunited with his sister.

The second incident occurred on the same afternoon, when Henry received a call from the Coastguard alerting the team of a first-aid incident further along the beach.

Henry radioed the Mablethorpe lifeguard unit requesting a medical bag, so lead lifeguard supervisor Arun Gray ran to the scene.

When the lifeguard team arrived, they found a 19-year-old man who had collapsed after having a seizure on the promenade.

By this point, a member of the public was giving the casualty CPR and had helped him regain consciousness. Arun took over the first-aid care and helped to support the young man’s airways.

An ambulance then arrived to take the casualty to hospital, where he is believed to have made a full recovery.

The third recent incident took place the following Thursday (August 12), when lifeguard Thomas Capes rescued a small child.

At around 12pm, Thomas was patrolling the beach at Mablethorpe when he spotted a small boy struggling in the water. The child had drifted out of his depth and into deep water, where a rip current had appeared.

Thomas immediately entered the sea as the boy was struggling to keep his head above the water. The lifeguard used the rescue tube to keep the boy afloat until he was calm, and then returned him safely to shore.

The Mablethorpe team administered numerous medical checks; however, the boy did not sustain any injuries and did not require any further medical attention.

The fourth incident took place the following day, when Lois Kemp rescued three children who had been swept out to sea on a toy inflatable.

At around 4pm on Friday August 13, the Mablethorpe lifeguard spotted a group of children going into the sea with an inflatable and went to warn them of the dangers.

However, the strong offshore winds immediately swept them out to sea.

When Lois reached the water’s edge on the team quad bike, the children’s parents were on the shoreline dialling 999 for the Coastguard.

At the same time, fellow RNLI lifeguard Eloise Burke remained at the lifeguard unit and requested support from the Coastguard, who paged the Mablethorpe lifeboat.

Lois immediately entered the water with a rescue tube and swam towards the three children who were over 400m offshore. The charity’s lifeguard towed all three children back to shore in the inflatable. The Mablethorpe lifeboat crew was no longer needed as Lois had returned all three children safely before the lifeboat had launched.

Once ashore, the children were reunited with their parents and underwent medical checks.

The RNLI has praised each lifeguard for their efforts.

• For more information on water safety, visit https://rnli.org/safety.