Emergency services winrace to save stranded boys

Shortly before 6pm on Wednesday last week (May 2), East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service (ESFRS) took a 999 call from the boys, thought to be in their early teens and luckily equipped with a mobile phone, pleading for help.

They had been playing on the rocks and unaware of the incoming water until it was too late to get ashore.

Chris McDonnell, at ESFRS’s control centre in Eastbourne, began talking to the terrified youngsters, calming them down and reassuring them as he sought to pinpoint their location.

Meanwhile, colleagues alerted Dover coastguard and Hastings inshore lifeboat was launched.

A fire engine was despatched to the seafront and Chris asked the boys, who were on rocks more than 30 yards from the beach, to tell him where its blue flashing lights were in relation to them.

As he tried to gauge the danger, Chris also asked the boys if the rock they were trapped on was covered in seaweed or barnacles.

Their “yes” confirmed his fears that it would soon become submerged.

Adding urgency was news that one of the boys had already fallen into the water, and though he had scrambled out, was drenched and extremely cold.

Chris told them to hug one another to keep warm and assured them that help was on its way.

A lifeboat crew member who plucked the children to safety was able to use their phone to confirm that they were no longer in danger and soon afterwards they were reunited with their families.

Station manager Richard Moore said, “The role of firefighter control staff is extremely varied and complex and this incident demonstrates some of the challenges our Mobilising and Communication Centre faces. The response by our all our staff, particularly Chris McDonnell, was extremely professional, highly skilled and played a significant part in a successful response, and safe conclusion to the incident.”

PC Jason Kemp, of Bexhill police, who helped to get the boys home, said: “It’s a lesson to all that the sea can be a dangerous place. They simply hadn’t noticed the tide was coming in and by the time they did, it was almost too late. With one having fallen into the water, there was a real risk of hypothermia had the inshore lifeboat not arrived to scoop them up.”

Pictured: Bexhill beach looking towards Glyne Gap where the two boys became stranded