Dinghy duo rescued by coastguards

The pair were rescued more than seven hours after setting sail: Photo from Burnham-on-Sea.com

Two teenagers who set sail in a pair of £4.99 dinghies bought from a seaside shop, were rescued after being swept several miles along the Somerset coast.

Sammy Allison, 17, and Tom Carlisyle, 16, were visiting Weston-super-Mare on a half-term holiday trip from Chippenham, Wiltshire.

The tide swept them out across Weston Bay to Brean Down, where they were able to get ashore, but became stranded.

The pair called 999 on a mobile phone and were rescued by coastguards.

Sammy said: "We were floating about in the shallow water beside the pier when we got swept out into the channel.

"Fortunately, I was able to direct us towards Brean Down using the dinghy's paddles.

"We clambered over the rocks on the Down to the banks of the River Axe where we tried to find a crossing point to get back to Weston.

"We'd walked for ages in the pouring rain and, realising we were lost, started to get concerned so called the coastguards."

A search was launched for the pair by two rescue teams who found them seven and a half hours after they initially left Weston beach.

Burnham-On-Sea coastguard officer Steve Bird said: "They did the right thing in alerting the coastguard.

"It's good to see a happy ending to an incident that could have been turned out a lot more serious. We would never recommend that people set sail in inflatable dinghies."