BOTH Minehead lifeboats were launched late afternoon on Friday (January 2) when two walkers became trapped on the West Somerset coast as a fast incoming tide approached.

Volunteer crews of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Atlantic 85 and D Class lifeboats mustered and responded for their first call out of 2026 shortly after 4 pm as the area began to fall into darkness.

The walkers were cut off by the rising tide near Kilve beach and had called 999 for the Watchet Coastguard, whose members confirmed they had sight of the two casualties.

The lifeboats made good speed to the area but were faced with a situation where the crews had just 30 minutes left until high tide.

With little more than 30 feet (10 metres) of beach remaining, the two people were said to be ‘in a perilous position’.

An RNLI spokesperson said: “Conditions were tricky, with dumping surf on the beach.

“Despite this, the versatile D Class was skilfully landed on the beach, and both casualties safely recovered before being transferred to the Atlantic for the short transfer over to Watchet Harbour.”

The two casualties were given a welfare check by coastguards and found to be cold but unharmed.

Minehead lifeboat operations manager Dr John Higgie said: “This rescue illustrates the importance of checking the tide times before you set out, and always making sure you have a safe route ashore.”

The alert marked a busy evening for the RNLI in the Bristol Channel area, with a number of incidents seeing crews called out from various stations.

It happened at the same time on Friday as a tragedy was unfolding on the Yorkshire coastline near Withernsea, where two people died and a third was still missing on Saturday after getting into difficulties in the icy cold sea.