Barrow RNLI lifeboat Rescues Person in the Water in Walney Channel

The request for assistance was received from HM Coastguard in Holyhead at 11.40am. The information received was that a person was observed to be in the water in Walney Channel north of the Deep Water Berth. It was reported that the person in the water could be heard shouting for help.

The crew was paged and the all-weather lifeboat, Grace Dixon, was launched at 12.05pm with Coxswain Shaun Charnley in command assisted by a crew of five. The lifeboat was at the scene within ten minutes and located the casualty clinging to the boarding ladder of a boat moored in the Channel. The casualty was unresponsive and clearly suffering the effects of having been in the water for some time. Consequently, lifeboat crew member Saul Tomlin had to enter the water to free the casualty from the ladder. He was then able to help manoeuvre the Jasons cradle into position so that the casualty could be lifted on to the lifeboat.

The casualty and lifeboat crew member were safely back on board the lifeboat at 12.25pm. The casualty was given oxygen as the lifeboat made its way to one of the Orsted pontoons at the Belfast Berth. Once alongside, the lifeboat crew, assisted by Furness Coastguard and some windfarm maintenance technicians, carried the casualty off the pontoon where the North West Ambulance Service then provided appropriate medical assistance.

Cumbria Police were also in attendance and HM Coastguard Rescue helicopter 936 which had also been tasked to attend, conducted a sweep along a section of Walney Channel to check that there was nobody else in the water.

The lifeboat returned to the Boathouse at 1.30pm where it was recovered by the waiting shore crew and made ready for the next launch.

The weather at the time of the incident was overcast with poor visibility. The wind was south-westerly, Force 3. The high tide had passed at 8.52am with a predicted height of 7.7 metres.

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The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

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