TWO fishermen cut off at the base of 300 metre cliffs were snatched to safety by Minehead's RNLI lifeboat crews in an operation made more hazardous by thick fog.

And now station officials are pleading with all anglers to check tide times before setting out to fish along one of the most dangerous stretches of the Bristol Channel coast.

The men, both from Exeter, had been fishing on Selworthy Sands, near Porlock, which had been exposed by the low spring tide last Thursday afternoon.

But after dark, as the tide rose, they were forced back onto a boulder beach and eventually became stranded on rocks with their backs to the cliffs and the sea still advancing.

Their only possible escape route, up a narrow gully, was blocked by a landslip and a waterfall.

They contacted coastguards by mobile phone to alert them of their plight and Minehead's Atlantic 85 and D class lifeboats were launched.

But crews found the area shrouded in fog and had to fire parachute flares to locate the two men.

The men were then taken off the rocks by the crew of the D class lifeboat and transferred to the Atlantic 85, checked over, and landed a mile away on Bossington Beach where a coastguard unit was waiting.

Lifeboat helmsman Andrew Escott said both men were cold, wet and clearly shaken by their ordeal: "They literally had their backs to the cliffs with no way of going either left or right," he said.

"Luckily, there are a couple of really large rocks at that point so they had been able to get clear of the water. But they said they had been caught out because they had no idea the tide rose so high at that particular spot."

Minehead RNLI press officer Chris Rundle said the operation had been "a textbook rescue" with both crews working well together.

"It's actually the kind of thing the crews practise doing a lot when they are out on exercise and it's very gratifying when all the training pays off and an actual mission runs like clockwork," he said.

"On the other hand, there's hardly a more dangerous spot along the whole of this coastline and it's certainly not the kind of place to be trapped, particular on a spring tide and in fog. This could have had a different and very tragic outcome if we had not got there in time.

"We absolutely must urge anyone planning to fish along this section of coast to consult the tide tables thoroughly and ensure they can make it back to safety before there is any risk of being cut off."