It is every parent’s nightmare to lose a child anywhere but on a crowded Camber beach where all you can see is people it becomes the stuff of nightmares.
On Saturday, June 10 when the pagers went off at 6:22pm, the volunteers at RNLI Rye Harbour lifeboat station left their dinners, their bedtime stories with their children and family celebrations and rushed to the station to launch the boat. From the pagers going off to the Atlantic 85 being in the water was twelve minutes.
Alongside the Rye Harbour boat was the RNLI Dungeness’s lifeboat, the coastguard’s CRT from Rye Bay and New Romney, and the coastguard helicopter Rescue 163 who all worked together as a team to search for a missing four-year-old. The child was found on shore and reunited with worried parents.
The Rye Harbour boat was returned to the lifeboat station and made ready for service.
Luke was helm with Rob, Emma, Lucy G as boat crew with Iain as tractor driver.
Paul Bolton, lifeboat operations manager, said: “I am always so proud of our team at the harbour. Professional and working well together. A great outcome with the child being safely reunited with its parents.”
Image Credits: Kt bruce , Claire Robus- Bolton .