TWO teenaged boys were plucked to safety in a dramatic rescue operation after being cut off by a rising tide and stranded on crumbling cliff faces close to their Watchet homes.

Lifeboat crews, coastguards and a Sea King helicopter from RAF Chivenor were involved in the incident on Monday evening.

The 16-year-olds had gone for a walk along the beach but got into difficulty about half a mile west of the town.

With darkness approaching, their attempt to climb the cliffs to safety ended up with them both trapped on separate ledges.

And after one of them began to panic, lifeboatman Paul Hobbs swam ashore and scaled the 300-foot cliff to be with him while he waited to be rescued.

The alarm was raised after the boys rang their parents when they realised they would be cut off by the tide.

Coastguards from Watchet began a search from the harbour in both directions as the boys' exact location was initially unclear.

But when both Minehead lifeboats were called out, the ability to search and view the cliff face from the water enabled the boys to be pinpointed - roughly between Warren Farm and Blue Anchor.

Stuck on ledges some 160 feet apart, the boys were in danger of slipping down because of the wet cliff face and strong winds.

Lifeboat crew member Cameron Smith said: "We managed to shout up to one of the lads and told him to stay where he was because help was on its way, and he was fine.

"But the other was panicking very badly. We were worried he would try to climb up or down and fall, so Paul decided to go up to him."

The other boy was higher up but coastguards, who by this time had called in their Minehead colleagues, set up a rope rescue system above him in the woods and lowered Watchet station officer Ian Wedlake down to secure a harness.

Both Ian and the boy were then lowered onto the beach where they made their way along to the access point at Warren Farm and to safety.

The Minehead team arrived on the scene soon after and attempted to locate the second boy from the cliff path.

But the vegetation was too dense so the helicopter was called in, with its crew winching the boy and lifeboatman to the cliff top.

Neither boy suffered any injuries or needed medical attention and they were reunited with their families, who had been waiting at the coastguard station in Watchet.

Minehead lifeboat operations manager Dr John Higgie said the mission had been carried out with textbook precision.

"The crews were on the scene and had the situation assessed very rapidly - and from then on those boys knew they were going to be OK," he said.

"The important thing in a situation like this is to provide reassurance to casualties so they stay exactly where they are and wait to be helped.

"We don't normally go in for climbing up cliffs but in this case Paul did exactly the right thing, even though it was at considerable risk to himself.

"He could see the lad was losing his nerve and his actions probably averted a far more serious situation."

Watchet coastguard Simon Bale agreed the rescue was "text book" thanks to the co-ordination and training between all three rescue services involved.

But he said the boys had decided to go for a walk without advising their families and had ventured onto the beach with an incoming tide.

"They decided to climb away from the water to what they felt was safety but unfortunately what had started as a gentle climb soon led to a very steep surface and they were unable to get off the cliff or return back to the beach."

Mr Bale said the stretch of cliff and coast path between Watchet and Blue Anchor was inaccessible and unstable in many places and had suffered a number of landslips over the past year.

"We would like to remind anyone who ventures onto the shoreline to check what the tides are doing and always to tell someone where you are going and what time you are due back," he said.