Two teenagers left 'clinging to a buoy' after getting caught in strong currents in River Exe

Two teenagers were left clinging to a buoy after getting caught in strong currents while attempting to swim across a Devon river.

They were among six teenagers who found themselves in difficulty in the River Exe at around 5pm on Sunday 9 June.

Exmouth RNLI said the teenagers had been attempting to swim across the river from Mamhead Slipway to Dawlish Warren when they got into trouble.

Two teenagers were unable to make it across the river, with the remaining four making it to Pole Sands before getting stuck by the rising tide.

The first two casualties were pulled from the water by two passing off-duty volunteer lifeboat crew, Exmouth RNLI said.

The Exmouth Inshore Lifeboat then retrieved the remaining four teenagers from Pole Sands before bringing them back to the slipway.

The Exmouth RNLI volunteer crew had been undertaking a mud rescue training exercise on the river with coastguards from Dawlish and south Devon when they were alerted to the incident.

A spokesperson for Exmouth RNLI said their proximity to the location of the incident "no doubt helped with the very fast response time."

They added: "It was lucky that our volunteers were already on the river and that two off-duty Exmouth RNLI crew were also in the vicinity.

"The River Exe has very strong and potentially dangerous currents and is also a very busy boating channel.

"Attempting to swim across it at any time is dangerous, but trying to do so during a period of such strong tidal flow was very dangerous indeed and could easily have ended in a tragic outcome."