Pair treated after being swept into sea at Staithes

An eyewitness caught dramatic pictures of the moment a man and a woman were swept into the sea off the North Yorkshire coast while "fishing".

The pair were standing on the rocks at Staithes harbour on Sunday when they were caught by a wave and ended up in the water.

The eyewitness told the Yorkshire Live website: "I noticed these two fishing on the top of the rocks. The next minute a big wave came over and I thought, they had been washed off. They have disappeared.

"And I can see they have been washed off into the sea in the harbour. How they were knocked out I don't know, they must have been thrown. They didn't hit the rails. They ended up in the sea.

"I don't know how they managed to get back to the harbour. The girl is clinging on to the rails, and hanging on by her fingertips, and the guy is holding on to her."

The man said the pair were lucky to be alive adding: "You've got to be careful. The sea is not very forgiving, these two are lucky. It's one of those things, if they had been thrown a few more feet they wouldn't be here now cause the sea was really rough - it was the peak of high tide."

The RNLI confirmed it was called to the north pier at around 4pm after the man and woman were taken out to sea.

A spokesperson said: "Fortunately the high tides and seas washed them back on.

"The casualties were walked off the pier by station personnel before the lifeboat was launched. They were warmed up at the station, given dry clothes and checked over by the station medical advisor."

The RNLI said the area was experiencing large spring tides and heavy seas and urged people to stay away from piers and harbour walls.

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