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A veteran who helped rescue two women on Moreton Beach said he had 'never seen water come in so quickly'.
A group of soldiers who were recovering from PTSD were on a wellbeing walk along the beach at around 11:35 am on September 15, when one from the group noticed people stuck on a sandbank shouting for help.
Loise Campbell, who leads the wellbeing walks for veterans in her role as veterans co-ordinator for Everton in the Community, called HM Coastguard. Two women were rescued around half an hour later by an RNLI hovercraft and taken to hospital.
Initial reports confirmed that the people were reported as stranded, but by the time emergency crews arrived, one man had managed to reportedly swim back to safety. That man had been out walking with his sister and his wife, and he explained how he knew the women.
One veteran, who wishes to remain anonymous, described the moment he noticed something was wrong. He told the Wirral Globe: "We only got so far along, and the heavens opened, so we decided to turn back. Then we saw two women on the sandbank – which was huge at the time. I turned round and said, they're in trouble: they're shouting for help."
He added: "The water came in so fast – I've never seen water come in so quick. The currents took their legs from underneath them, and they started getting washed out."
Witnesses at the scene recalled that it appeared to take a 'lifetime' for emergency services to arrive. One claimed that 25 minutes passed before police arrived, closely followed by the coastguard.
Staff from the Wirral Coastguard, Crosby Coastguard, Hoylake RNLI, New Brighton RNLI, Merseyside Police, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, North West Ambulance Service and North West Air Ambulance attended the scene.
A coastguard rescue officer and a firefighter initially attempted to swim across to perform a 'snatch rescue', but the attempt was aborted after six or seven minutes as they couldn't reach the women due to the fast-moving tide and their distance from shore.
The casualties were recovered by the Hoylake RNLI hovercraft and were left in the care of the North West Ambulance Service.
The veteran described his relief when he saw the hovercraft approaching, but said the moment was traumatising. He said: "I was sick over the concrete wall when I saw them getting pulled from the water by the hovercraft. The husband was in absolute bits. A police officer was helping him, and we were telling him to keep calm. But how can you keep calm in that scenario? He's just watched them both get washed out to sea."
He added: "We've all got PTSD and things like that anyway. What should've been a therapeutic walk left us in a terrible state. We just hope the two women are okay."
