A busy Saturday night on March 8 for the Pett Level Independent Rescue Boat with four people rescued in two separate incidents. Jo O’Hara from PLIRB takes up the story.
At 6:30pm we were tasked by the UK Coastguard to a report of a single female who had become lost on a walk from Rye to Hastings. As we were local and about to run our quiz in Fairlight, our volunteer crew were at the boathouse in under five minutes and launched shortly after.
The crew were given a what3words location as the casualty had given the reference to UK Coastguard before her phone lost charge. With a precise location, the team located the casualty almost immediately. Crew were deployed to shore to assess and support her extraction to the boat. RNLI Rye Harbour Lifeboat Station were also tasked to assist – and provided essential relay communications.
On the return to the slip, our crew noticed lights flashing under the cliffs – clearly a repetitive action to gain attention. The crew called out and ascertained that there were three people in need of assistance. Swiftly the team handed the female casualty into the care of our shore crew and immediately returned to the location of the three casualties – three young lads who had been looking for a spot to camp out for the night but had got lost. They did the right thing and signalled for help.
Our brilliant crew got all three lads on board and returned them to the slip to wait for their parents to collect them. Volunteers from HM Coastguard Rye Bay were tasked to provide vital shore support.
Thank you to our amazing volunteers and our neighbouring teams – working together is vital. A fantastic outcome from a double taking. The crew even made it back to the quiz!
Image Credits: Jo O'Hara .
Excellent work and proof that our wonderful RNLI will always be needed.
Well done crew! Keep up the good work.
Well done.