Inflatables cause problems for UK Coastguard

The UK Coastguard went on the hunt for the impossible in the busy shipping lane near Hayling Island, Portsmouth – a unicorn.

Well, to be more exact, an inflatable unicorn with a beach goer stranded on top of it. A coastguard team was dispatched from the Hillhead Coastguard headquarters, with Portsmouth and Hayling RNLI lifeboats and a search and rescue helicopter from Lee-On-Solent. The woman was eventually located 400m out to sea and rescued by the service.

On the south coast of the UK alone, the Coastguard were called out to 15 incidents on 3 July where beachgoers had been swept out to sea on inflatables, including one person using a flamingo inflatable, and the other in a dinghy.

Piers Stanbury, Coastguard Duty Controller told The Portsmouth News: “We can’t stress enough that these inflatables are not suitable for use in the sea. Tide conditions, the wind, any changes in the weather can just take them out beyond safe depths. Please, don’t use them, don’t take them to the seaside.”