Coastguard called out twice to emergencies at sea in space of 20 minutes in Blackpool

Last night, August 7, coastguard teams from Blackpool and Lytham were called out to two emergencies in the space of 20 minutes.

The earliest, at 8.32 pm, was to reports of people being cut off by an incoming tide close to the Imperial Hotel.

And volunteers were then called out to sea shortly after at 8.55 pm, to investigate reports of a person stranded in the water close to Cocker Square.

A D-class lifeboat was deployed by RNLI Blackpool to provide safety cover whilst lifeguard volunteers engaged with the casualty from the shore.

The casualty was then passed on to the care of the North West Ambulance Service.

Both HM Lytham coastguard, RNLI Blackpool, Fleetwood coastguard and Blackpool police were in attendance.

A spokesperson for HM Lytham coastguard said: "We were called out twice in quick succession this evening with the first job coming through at 20.32 to people cut off by the incoming tide around the Imperial Hotel area, our volunteers quickly arrived on scene and fortunately found the casualties had safely made it back to shore. Safety advice was given.

"As the team was standing down we received reports of a person possibly in the water just south of our location, the team was re-tasked at 20.55 to investigate the reports. On scene, we located one person in the water.

"One of our volunteers went to the water's edge to engage with the casualty, our volunteer then promptly rescued the casualty near the bottom of the steps, who was then passed into the care of North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust."

And a spokesperson for RNLI Blackpool added: "Our RNLI volunteers launched shortly after 9 pm in very difficult conditions to a person in the sea near Cocker Square.

"One D class lifeboat quickly headed to the scene & provided safety cover while the person was helped to safety by HM Coastguard Lytham & Fleetwood Coastguard."