[T]he volunteer crew from the RNLI’s Barrow station launched their inshore lifeboat this afternoon, Saturday 12th August 2017, to rescue members of the public who had become stranded on Foulney Island due to the rising tide.
RNLI Personnel who were already at the Lifeboat Station at Roa Island this afternoon had observed several people walking on Foulney Island. The tide was still rising and, realising that they were in danger of being cut off, some of the walkers had decided to wade through the water to get back to the Roa Island causeway.
In order to ensure that everyone was safe it was decided to launch the inshore lifeboat, ‘Vision of Tamworth’, and the crew were paged at 2:31pm. The lifeboat was launched within just a few minutes with crew Ben Jackson and Ed Kilsby on board and it was quickly on the scene.
Three people were picked up from the shore on Foulney Island by the lifeboat and returned to the lifeboat station. The lifeboat then returned to Foulney Island to speak to the remaining people there who indicated that they were content to remain on the island until the high tide had passed and it was safe to walk back.
The ‘Vision of Tamworth’ then returned to the lifeboat station at 3:05 pm where it was made ready for the next launch.
The wind at the time of the incident was north-westerly Force 5 and the high tide was at 3:15pm with a predicted height of 8.8 metres.
