A man had to be rescued by helicopter from a small island after he and three other kayakers got into difficulty off the Pembrokeshire coast. The RNLI was alerted to a potentially major incident between Chapel Bay and Thorn Island, south of St Ishmael’s, on Saturday morning. Four kayakers had got into difficulty in the water and one had managed to swim to West Angle beach, while two others had been picked up by a passing fishing vessel.
However, a fourth person climbed a cliff in a desperate attempt to get to safety and was stranded 30 meters up from the sea on an island. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter. A UK Coastguard helicopter was sent to the scene and the man was able to be winched from the island. Meanwhile, RNLI crews used an inflatable boat to recover his kayak and other belongings which were still in the sea.
The helicopter landed in a field next to the shore where the casualty was handed over to Coastguard rescue teams from St Govans and Tenby, while members of RNLI Angle safely transferred the two casualties who were picked up by the fishing vessel to the Coastguard teams and were able to leave the scene. It was a busy day for RNLI crews in this particular corner of Pembrokeshire. Earlier on Saturday morning crews were paged to assist a nine-meter yacht suffering engine failure near St Anns Head, which had to be towed back to Milford Docks. Nobody sustained any serious injuries in either of the incidents.