Both Burnham-on-Sea lifeboats paged at 1352 hrs on Sunday morning to assist search for missing person.

 A man had been reported as trying to go for a swim, from Brean beach, in the vicinity of the Seagull pub, during the early hours of Sunday morning. HM Coastguard Swansea control was notified, and initiated a coastal search.

Both Staines Whitfield and Puffin were launched, and proceeded to the search area, whereupon arrival, the crew of Staines Whitfield conducted a coastal search to the North, whilst Puffin searched in a Southerly direction. Auxiliary coastguard team members continued searching the beach. Additionally, a helicopter from RAF Chivenor had been called, but stood down after the man made himself known to a coastguard search team at around 0300 hrs.

Coastguard officers handed the man, who was apparently covered in mud and starting to show signs of hypothermia, to paramedics for medical attention and the lifeboats were stood down. 

Lifeboat Operations Manager Ricky Holmes said; “It was a long night and we did not leave the lifeboat station until 0500 hrs. The tide was fairly low when we recovered, which meant both boat and shore crew had to work hard washing off the mud before the boats were put away.”