RNLI share important advice to Pembrokeshire’s beach-goers and sea swimmers on World Drowning Prevention Day.
World Drowning Prevention Day is a global event that is held annually on July 25 to remember lives lost due to drowning and to increase knowledge on safety in and around water.
Pembrokeshire’s RNLI beach lifeguards were on hand this week to rescue multiple people at Newgale beach on July 23, when lifeguards patrolling raced into action to rescue six people and assisted a further eight people from rip currents!
The combination of 1-2ft surf and the sandbanks at low tide caused an abundance of rip currents to form. RNLI lifeguards were kept busy providing preventative advise to the public and encouraging them to swim between the red and yellow flags.
Senior Lifeguard George Morgan said: “In total we rescued six people and assisted a further eight, but also gave out preventative advice to hundreds of people.
“The combination of surf, wind, and tide moving across the sandbanks at Newgale often creates flash rip currents. The location of these currents can change every day and are impossible to predict. This forces us to regularly move the flags and dynamically assess the beach.
“We strongly advise that you swim and bodyboard between the red and yellow flags or surf, kayak and paddleboard between the black and white flags. The flagged areas are patrolled at all times by our lifeguards between 10am-6pm.
“If you see the red flag flying, we have deemed that area of the beach as unsafe, most commonly due to rip currents.”