Burnham & Highbridge Weekly News - local news, sport, jobs, cars, what's on, homes, travel, weather

Sailor's "miraculous escape" off Burnham coast

From the Burnham & Highbridge Weekly News, first published Wednesday 21st May 2008.

BURNHAM Coastguards helped to save the life of a marooned man during a "miraculous escape".

A speedboat owner was forced to swim through the treacherous tides in the Bristol Channel to Steep Holm Island, after his boat capsized off the coast of Burnham on Sunday morning.

Almost 12 hours later, the town's eagle-eyed coastguard rescue team spotted a flame flickering from the island - and lifeboat teams swooped to save the shipwrecked sailor.

In all, nine lifeboat teams, seven coastguard teams and an RAF helicopter had been involved in the dramatic search for the man, believed to be from Weston-super-Mare.

Dave Bird, station officer for Burnham Coastguard, which sent its volunteers to Brean Down to help scour the seas, told the Weekly News: "We got called at about 7.45pm on Sunday evening to say a man had been reported missing.

"We split up into three teams to check the River Axe, where his boat was moored, and the whole of the bay.

"Teams also went up to Brean Down and had a really good look but couldn't see him.

"Then just as the helicopter arrived on scene at about 9.10pm we spotted a light - which looked like a sodium street light.

"We looked through our binoculars and could see it was a fire."

A Weston RNLI lifeboat was then sent out to Steep Holm to rescue the sailor - ending his life-threatening ordeal.

The incident amazed coastguard teams and reinforced just how dangerous the waters around Burnham can be.

Steve added: "When his boat sank he ended up swimming to Steep Holm. He is one lucky man - the tide is probably the second strongest in the world and if he had missed the island he would have been dead.

"It was a miraculous escape."

Archive Home