Members of the public have been credited with helping to save the life of a young person who was being “rapidly swept out to sea” at Cobo.
The first 999 calls were made at around 18:30 yesterday when the 14-year-old was seen in distress in the water at the north end of the bay.
Callers said the teenager was “struggling” and was being “rapidly swept out to sea”.
A Coastguard officer with a drone, the RNLI, and the Channel Islands Airsearch were all despatched to the scene.
That Coastguard officer was on the scene by 18:50 and was helped by an unknown member of the public who had been keeping a watch on the young person in the water.
They kept their eyes on the struggling child until the drone was launched minutes later. The drone was then used to keep watch on the teenager until the Inshore Lifeboat arrived at 19:00.
Duty SAR Mission Coordinator (SMC) Mike Harris said the lifeboat crew quickly recovered the youngster from the water and brought them ashore at Cobo where a waiting ambulance crew assessed them and took them to hospital.
It’s thought the child had been in the water for more than 90 minutes when they were rescued. Their condition now is not known.
Mr Harris said the emergency services and the volunteer teams were all supported in their work by the invaluable help given by members of the public who helped to save the teenager’s life.
“This was a great example of not only the emergency services, but also members of the public, coming together to ensure that this young person was rescued from the sea,” he said.
“Without the initial sighting made by the first informant and the member of the public who kept watch on the casualty, this incident could have had a completely different outcome”.
Of the crews who attended the scene, the CIAS aircraft was stood down at 19:10, and the RNLI lifeboat returned to station by 19:42.
