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Resourceful bystander rescues child swept off pier during high tide #shorts

Published on Wed, Aug 16th 2023 News & Politics Rectangular HD

Officials in a U.K. district are warning residents to “respect” the sea after a child was nearly swept away before being rescued by bystanders earlier this month.

A group of children were playing on the pier slipway at Ilfracombe Harbour in Ilfracombe, on the southwest coast of England, during high tide shortly before 7 p.m. on Aug. 3 when the incident occurred.

According to a statement from the North Devon Council, a wave knocked a girl off her feet, and she slipped through the railings into the water.

“One quick-thinking member of the public retrieved a lifebuoy while another was able to catch the girl before she was swept further out to sea,” the council said.

Surveillance video shared by the council shows the girl standing next to a railing on a portion of the pier that ramps down toward the water. Large waves crash against the pier, and one of them pulls her through the metal bars and into the sea.

The girl is pulled farther and farther until she reaches the end of the main pier, where a bystander can be seen pulling her in.

The Royal National Lifeboat Institution responded to the scene and treated two children before transporting them home, the council said.

“This incident is a serious reminder of the dangers of tombstoning and other high-risk activities in the harbor. Not only were the youths lucky not to be more seriously injured, they put their lives in danger as well as those of quick-thinking bystanders who acted when they got into trouble,” Harbormaster Georgina Carlo-Paat said.

“The sea conditions were very volatile and all of the youths had been knocked off their feet on the slipway prior to the incident, but still continued to run into surging waves. Thankfully the RNLI were on exercise in the outer harbor at the time and were able to respond very quickly and tended to their injuries before escorting them all home,” Carlo-Paat said.

The North Devon coastline is known for its rocky cliffs, which attracts so-called “tombstoning,” or jumping off the cliffs into the water.

The council warned that a bylaw “prohibits people from jumping, diving into and swimming the harbor without permission from the harbor master. This protects people from risks such as altering water depths; submerged objects and rocks, and the strong currents that can rapidly sweep people away.”

The penalty for jumping off the harbor can be a fine up to 1,000 pounds, or about $1,270, upon prosecution.

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