Hovercraft rescues stranded Range Rover on the Weston mudflats

Burnham's rescue hovercraft was called out on Monday night to help Coastguards and the RNLI rescue a stranded vehicle on Weston beach.

Burnham Area Rescue Boat (BARB) Search & Rescue's hovercraft was called out by Coastguards after a brand new Range Rover got stuck in the mud over 400 metres from the main beach at Weston.

The hovercraft crew, with two Weston Coastguard mud technicians onboard, flew out to check that all the occupants were free from the vehicle.

Attempts were then made to free the vehicle using spades and boards without luck and Weston RNLI's tracked launching vehicle was used to pull the vehicle to safety with just minutes to spare before the tide came in.

During the rest of the evening, the BARB hovercraft also flew to several mud walkers far out on the tideline and one was flown back to safety as a precaution.

The incident followed a busy weekend in which BARB was called out three times to multiple rescues of people who had got into difficulty during the hot weather and Weston Air Show. Two were rescued at Sand Bay and four people were rescued at Weston.