28 October - Woman and children stranded on mud flats

On one of the coldest afternoon's this year Poole's inshore lifeboat and volunteer crew launched to a report of a woman and two children stranded on mud flats in an inflatable kayak.
At 1550 a man alerted Portland Coastguard that he had seen a woman and two children stuck in an inflatable kayak at Bucks Cove off Giggers Island. The three had been paddling around the islands when the spring tide caught them out and they soon went aground on a mudflat, and with icy winds and blustery squalls coming through they quickly found themselves in trouble.

Portland Coastguard launched the lifeboat and when it arrived on scene they saw the casualties stuck a long way off. The crew used the X boat, an inflatable dinghy that the crew carries on the ILB for mud rescues in the harbour. The crew scrambled 60m along the mud on the dinghy to reach the mother and children. Volunteer Crew Member and experienced first aider Simon Mumford assessed the casualties; they were extremely cold despite wearing wetsuits and buoyancy aids.

Simon said: ‘They were shivering and there were visible signs of early stages of hypothermia. As it would have taken a long time to get them off the mud and back to the ILB, I was extremely concerned.’
The Helmsman radioed Portland Coastguard and requested the search and rescue helicopter – Rescue 106 – to come and lift them off the mud. By now the mother was suffering with severe hypothermia and one of the children was asthmatic. As the light was fading, the wind was freshening and icy and they had been out there for over an hour, they needed to get them to an ambulance quickly.
The helicopter took the casualties to Whitecliff where an ambulance and the Poole Coastguard team were waiting to whisk them off to Poole hospital. The ILB crew recovered the kayak and crawled back off the mud back to the ILB and then went back to station to clean off the mud.

Volunteer Senior Helmsman Paul Singleton said: ‘The Wareham channel and latches at the back of the harbour with the mud can be treacherous. Add a spring tide that rushes away and anyone can get caught out. The mud has big potholes and you can easily be sucked down. They were very lucky that somebody saw them and raised the alarm. It would have been a different outcome if they had got out of the boat; at least they had the sense to stay put.’
Alan Norman, Watch Manager at Portland Coastguard said: ‘The mother and two children from the London area are recovering in hospital from their ordeal. We would like to thank the Poole lifeboat crew for their efforts in the execution of this incident. A good team effort by all concerned.’