Five cut off by tide rescued

Busy night on the Exe estuary

Five people cut off by the tide at Lympstone have been rescued by Exmouth's RNLI.

It was the first of two shouts for the lifeboat team on Thursday evening, after their were subsequently called to a broken down boat off Cockwood on the west of the Exe estuary.

As the tide rose, the inshore lifeboat firstly headed up the estuary to Lymsptone around 8.30 p.m. where the RNLI volunteers conducted a shoreline search. 

The five casualties were quickly located and transferred to Lympstone Sailing Club's slipway at 8.52 p.m. where they were met by the Coastguard Rescue Team - the last of them being brought ashore at 9.16 p.m. 

The RNLI team hadn't even made it back to the lifeboat station when they were called to the broken down boat off Cockwood. 

They diverted to the scene, located the boat and assessed its condition and the safety of the people on board.  The vessel and its occupants were taken under tow to the safety of Cockwood Harbour where at 9.37 p.m. it was safely moored and the lifeboat stood down.   

No one was injured or required medical attention in either incident.