Huge wave sweeps girl into sea at harbour
A warning has been issued about the dangers of the sea following an incident at a West Country harbour which saw a child swept into the sea. The incident took place shortly before 7pm on Thursday, August 3.
A group of four children were playing on the pier slipway at Ilfracombe Harbour during high tide when a wave knocked a girl off her feet and swept her between the railings and into the sea. One quick-thinking member of the public retrieved a lifebuoy while another was able to catch the girl before she was swept further out to sea, Devon Live reports[1].
Ilfracombe RNLI responded, providing casualty care to two children before taking them home.
Harbourmaster Georgina Carlo-Paat says: “This incident is a serious reminder of the dangers of tombstoning and other high-risk activities in the harbour. Not only were the youths lucky not to be more seriously injured, they put their lives in danger as well as those of quick-thinking bystanders who acted when they got into trouble.
“The sea conditions were very volatile and all of the youths had been knocked off their feet on the slipway prior to the incident, but still continued to run into surging waves. Thankfully the RNLI were on exercise in the outer harbour at the time and were able to respond very quickly and tended to their injuries before escorting them all home.”
The council is also warning of the dangers of tombstoning at the harbour. A byelaw exists which prohibits people from jumping, diving into and swimming the harbour without permission from the harbour master. This protects people from risks such as altering water depths; submerged objects and rocks, and the strong currents that can rapidly sweep people away. The penalty for jumping off the harbour can be up to a £1,000 fine upon prosecution.
The dramatic footage shows the moment the huge waves crashed down upon a Devon car park, damaging cars and knocking people over. The start of the video, which was posted on August 3, shows young people playing in the car park as waves began crashing over the sea wall. One teenager is seen riding a bike along the tarmac before they were knocked over by a large wave.
Moments later, another teenager can be seen running into the car park before a second large wave crashed down and caused them to fall to the ground.
Screams of laughter can be overheard as the youngsters continue to play in the water. However, as the waves appear to grow bigger and bigger the car park empties of the youths.
One huge wave crashed down causing one the parked vehicles to move from its stationary position and bang into a wall. Water can be seen totally engulfing vehicles throughout the video, triggering the alarm on a parked van.
A woman, stood in the car park, tried to escape one large wave but was evidently too late as a large volume of water swept over her and knocked her to the ground.
A number of vehicles suffered damage as a result of the enormous waves. Footage shows one van suffered dents to the side of its body work. The bumper had also fallen off. Another vehicle had also suffered damage including a smashed windscreen.
References
- ^ Devon Live reports (www.devonlive.com)
- ^ M5 drink-driver ploughs into car while driving wrong way (www.somersetlive.co.uk)