Five teens stranded on ‘K2’ rescued by lifeboat

Emergency services were called just after 8pm on Thursday to report that the children were on ‘K2’ – the rocky outcrop on the eastern side of the bay by Grandes Rocques battery, popular with young teenagers for jumping.

At the time a tide alert was in place for the west coast, with a 9.8m high spring tide just before 9pm.

Police officers were sent to the scene and saw the group, which was made up of a mixture of boys and girls in their early teens. There were concerns about the fast-rising tide and the failing light.

Sunset was at 8.48pm.

The St Peter Port inshore lifeboat Elizabeth & Margaret Milligan was launched to attempt a rescue. But then it arrived the crew found heavy swell breaking all around K2, making it impossible to reach the rocks safely.

Earlier in the evening the children had been jumping off the rocks into the water. It was decided the safest way to get them to safety was for them to jump into the water one at a time, and then they could be pulled to safety using a throw line.

The operation was successfully carried out five times, with all the children on the boat by sunset.

Lifeboat operations manager Jason Hobbs said this was an unusual rescue, but this was why the volunteers trained to be ready for any scenario.

The children were landed at Port Soif, where they were checked by ambulance staff. They were uninjured.

Duty search and rescue co-ordinator Mike Harris said it was important people took the marine environment seriously.

‘Although we would never wish to stop children having fun in and around our local marine environment, it is essential that they do so safely and are fully aware of their surroundings, and especially the time of the high tides,’ he said.

‘With the strong winds experienced over the past few days, a large swell had formed on the west coast and as such the area where the children had decided to enjoy the sea was extremely precarious.’

Mr Hobbs agreed, saying it was important to understand what is happening in the water, particularly during spring tides or when there is swell.

The rock is a popular spot for ‘tombstoning’, but gets cut off at high tide and is hard to reach by boat. This is not the first time the lifeboat has been called there.

In 2015 six friends were stranded on the rocks in a similar incident, and again the lifeboat could not get close to the rocks for a rescue. In that case a teenager was injured getting to shore, while the rest were walked back onto land in the dark, after the tide had fallen.

There were tide alerts for both of yesterday’s tides, which means it was likely that waves would come over the sea walls.

More serious tide warnings are in place for the west coast for this morning and tonight’s high tides, which will be at just after 10am this morning and about 10.30pm tonight. There is likely to be waves and debris coming over the sea wall.