Chilling moment wave drags little girl out to sea

Shocking footage captures the moment a wave dragged a girl out to sea in a popular UK holiday spot, with the local council warning others to be ‘mindful’ while enjoying the coastline this summer.

While harbours can prove to be popular places to jump into the water, a past-time known as ‘tombstoning’, there are a number of risks involved that many may not have realised - as well as potential hefty fines in some areas.

Sometimes the sea might not be as deep as people think, while on other occasions the water could be much choppier than swimmers realise – which is exactly what happened in North Devon last Thursday (8 August).

A group of youngsters were on the pier slipway at Ilfracombe Harbour when a huge wave leapt forward and dragged a girl into the sea.

Thankfully, she was rescued by two members of the public, whose ‘quick-thinking’ brought her back to safety so that she could be treated for minor injuries by Ilfracombe RNLI.

North Devon Council

North Devon Council has since released CCTV footage of the incident as a cautionary tale to others.

It wrote on Twitter: “Sea conditions can be changeable and volatile, so please be mindful along the coast. This incident took place at Ilfracombe Harbour on Thursday evening and could have been much more serious were it not for quick-thinking members of the public.

“Thankfully those involved only suffered minor injuries, which were treated by Ilfracombe RNLI.

“Playing around the slipway in volatile conditions, and activities such as tombstoning can be extremely dangerous and we urge members of the public to act safely at the harbour.”

Warned about the dangers of tombstoning at the harbour, the council also noted how a byelaw exists that prohibits people from jumping, diving into and swimming the harbour without permission from the harbour master.

“This protects people from risks such as altering water depths; submerged objects and rocks, and the strong currents that can rapidly sweep people away,” it said.

North Devon Council

It added that the penalty for jumping off the harbour can be up to £1,000 upon prosecution.

Harbourmaster Georgina Carlo-Paat said: “This incident is a serious reminder of the dangers of tombstoning and other high-risk activities in the harbour.

“Not only were the youths lucky not to be more seriously injured, they put their lives in danger as well as those of quick-thinking bystanders who acted when they got into trouble.

“The sea conditions were very volatile and all of the youths had been knocked off their feet on the slipway prior to the incident, but still continued to run into surging waves.

“Thankfully the RNLI were on exercise in the outer harbour at the time and were able to respond very quickly and tended to their injuries before escorting them all home.”