DATELINE: 14th May 2001
GIRLS SAVED
Two young girls in a dinghy were saved by a passing dive boat just as they were about to be swept into heavy surf running over the bar at the entrance of Hayle, in St Ives Bay, Cornwall.
Triton Diving, a 5.8m RIB which operates out of the port, was returning from a dive and came in over the bar to find the 2m GRP pram dinghy and its occupants being swept helplessly on an ebb tide towards the cauldron of water.
"We got to them in the nick of time," said operator John Kendrick, whose company is based in nearby Camborne. "The girls were just 10 and 12 years old, and they were flimsily dressed. We took them in tow and arranged for the Coastguard and police to meet us at the other end."
The girls told Kendrick that they had only just bought the dinghy and had set out to go fishing.