Rescue - Monday 16 November 2020

Rescues

Two people had a lucky escape when they were trapped in a cave at Huntcliff, Saltburn, by one of the biggest tides of the lunar cycle.

The pair, a man and a woman, raised the alarm by mobile telephone after they found they were trapped approximately half-way between the Ship Inn and the point of Huntcliff at around 1.15pm on Monday 16 November 2020.

Both RNLI lifeboats from Redcar were sent to the scene. Redcar’s smaller IB1 class lifeboat ran into the cave. The crew checked on the welfare the two people before putting them into the lifeboat for the short journey to the Ship Inn slipway where a Coastguard rescue team was waiting.

Steve Atkinson, helm of the lifeboat, said: ‘They are two very lucky people. The tide was only halfway in but the water was already washing round their feet. There was another 2.5 metres of tide to come in.’

 

Steve, who was in charge of his first successful rescue since qualifying as a helm in September this year, added: ‘They did exactly the right thing by staying put. It would have been dangerous to try and wade or swim to safety. The ground in that area is full of rocks and holes and the outcome could have been far worse.

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