MINEHEAD’S lifeboat crew responded to 33 emergency calls in 2016, rescuing 16 people during the course of the year.

Official figures released by the RNLI this week reveal that, of that casualty total, three were officially classified as ‘lives saved’.

The volunteer crew of 18 men and women provide safety and rescue cover along the Bristol Channel coast from Lynmouth to Hinkley Point, a patch which includes the highest sea cliffs in England between Porlock Weir and Foreland Point.

Of the 16 calls, 14 services were carried out at night, and in total the crew spent a total of 122 hours at sea.

The number of calls was eight fewer than 2015’s total and, said RNLI Minehead chairman Bryan Stoner that was probably partly a reflection of 2016’s better weather.

“On the other hand across the country the RNLI has been working tremendously hard hammering home the message of safety at sea,” he said.

“The emphasis is now much more on using education to prevent things going wrong, though of course we are still ready to intervene whenever they do.”

In total, crews at Somerset’s four RNLI stations – Minehead, Burnham-on-Sea, Weston-super-Mare and Portishead – launched 160 times, rescued 80 people and saved 10 lives last year.

Minehead’s latest call came on Monday afternoon (March 27) when the crew was in action towing in a yacht that had suffered steering failure in Porlock Bay.