Overview
- Rhyl volunteer lifeboat crews were paged shortly before 9pm on May 29 and reached a person trapped in quicksand with the tide already at waist height.
- The casualty, later named locally as 26-year-old Natasha Oldfield, told rescuers "I'm sinking" after being stuck for about 40 minutes before the lifeboat arrived.
- Crew members fitted a lifejacket, leaned the casualty back to free a trapped leg and recovered her to the lifeboat station for checks while coastguard teams and a rescue helicopter were also deployed.
- Separate RNLI call-outs in the same period included Wells crews recovering four people cut off on North Norfolk sandbanks and Holyhead teams assisting stranded jetskiers, showing a wider pattern of tide-related incidents.
- The RNLI used the released video and survivor testimony to warn beachgoers to check tide times, stay near firm ground, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard if trapped, and to avoid bystander rescues that could put others at risk.