Everything we know about Thursday night's mud rescue in Portsmouth
TWO women who were rescued after getting stuck in the mud were out kayaking, the coastguard has confirmed.
On Thursday night, a major operation was launched between coastguard, fire, police and ambulance crews following reports of a person in the mud between the Mountbatten Centre in Hilsea and the M275.
After a two-hour operation, crews pulled two women, 18 and 25, back to dry land. The pair had been caught out by the low tide.
Fire crews from Cosham and Southsea, coastguard teams and the ambulance service were alerted at about 8.30pm and spent two hours bringing the women back to dry land.
A Cosham Fire Station spokesman said they had been kayaking in the water but had become stuck in mud when the tide went out.
One onlooker told The News on Thursday night: ‘I’m really glad the emergency services have been able to get them out.
‘I hope they’re okay.’
Another person said: ‘I was just walking by when I heard the sirens and saw all the flashing lights.
‘Just from how many vehicles there are you can tell it’s serious.’
Once on the scene, crews fanned out across the area, shining floodlights out onto the muddy plain to locate the pair.
After pinpointing their location, two coastguard members waded out more than 200m into the mud with a dinghy, which was winched back in one the women were on board and covered with blankets to warm up.
The two women, who appeared responsive to emergency services, walked unaided from the dinghy to the cycle path – and were thankful to be rescued.
A spokesman for South Central Ambulance Service said: ‘We were contacted by Hampshire fire control at 8.30pm, who informed us that two kayakers – both female, one aged 18 and one 25 – had become stuck on mud in Portsmouth harbour due to the tide going out.
‘We sent an ambulance, a rapid response vehicle and our Hazardous Area Response Team to the incident and once the females had been safely recovered, they were check over but were both fit and healthy.’
Gafirs – the Gosport and Fareham lifeboat service – also provided cover during the operation.