A FULL-scale alert brought a helicopter, Minehead lifeboat and Watchet and Burnham-on-Sea Coastguards to Blue Anchor beach last Sunday (August 27) for the dramatic rescue of two teenage boys.

They were trapped in deep mud over 200 metres from the shore on an incoming tide.

Coastguards also had to rescue a parent of one of the boys who had attempted to go to their aid.

A spokesman said: “Due to the distance from the shore, and with the Bristol Channel having the second highest tidal range in the world, the Coastguard rescue centre at Milford Haven requested the two mud rescue teams and a Coastguard helicopter.

“Minehead lifeboat was also asked to attend as a back-up to the Coastguard teams should the incoming tide reach the casualties and the Coastguard rescuers before they had been freed from the mud.”

Mud rescue technicians Richard Nicholas and Simon Bale managed to free the three from the mud and the teenagers were checked by a paramedic for signs of a condition known as hydrostatic squeeze, caused by the pressure of mud, and also for potential heatstroke or exposure.

Back on the beach, the boys were given a drink and a wash-down by coastguards and were said to be little the worse for their ordeal.