RNLI lifeguards in Sutton on Sea rescue family in danger

A RNLI spokesman revealed that on Tuesday afternoon, a father was enjoying spending time in the sea with his wife and daughter when they lost their dolphin inflatable as it began drifting further out to sea.

RNLI lifeguard, Laura Horsley, could see the family were becoming out of their depth as they tried to retrieve the inflatable around 100m offshore and immediately paddled out with a rescue board to help.

Laura reached the young girl and her mother and rescued them from the sea and put them onto her board, as the father was able to swim back to shore.

RNLI Lifeguard Supervisor, Arun Gray praised Laura’s efforts and said: “Laura did a brilliant job and was immediately on the scene when things began to take a turn.

“We advise beachgoers to avoid using inflatables in the sea, especially when the orange windsock is flying, as this indicates there are strong offshore winds that will blow inflatables further out into deep water.”

Mr Arun added that they recommend people visit a lifeguarded beach so they are there to assist in instances like this - we are there to offer friendly safety advice and to let people know where is best to swim so that we can keep everybody safe.

The family didn’t receive any serious injuries and required no further medical attention.