Lifeboat crews report busy year

The RNLI was involved in more than 1,130 rescues last year

Lifeboat crews in the North East and Cumbria had one of their busiest 12 months ever in 2007, according to new figures from a rescue charity.

Volunteer crews with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in the region launched 1,137 times last year - rescuing 1,129 people.

The busiest lifeboat station in the region was Sunderland with 76 launches.

The Barrow lifeboat team were the busiest in Cumbria. They were called out 25 times and rescued 20 people.

The charity said bad weather during the summer failed to reduce the number of emergencies as had been expected.

Last year was the RNLI north division's third busiest year on record, behind 2006 and the busiest ever in 2003.

Poor summer

More than 74% of rescues were carried out by inshore lifeboats and 40% of the total involved pleasure craft. After Sunderland, the busiest lifeboat station in the north division was Tynemouth, with 68 launches.

Andrew Ashton, RNLI divisional inspector, said: "We expected rescue figures to be down for 2007 because of the particularly poor summer.

"But clearly the bad weather didn't put people off heading for the coast and setting out to sea.

"This means that our lifeboat crews have to be constantly prepared to drop everything and head out to help anyone who gets into difficulty at sea, at any time of day or night, summer or winter."

The RNLI's North Division stretches from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Skegness on the East Coast and Silloth in Cumbria to West Kirby on the West Coast.

The division has 33 lifeboat stations operating 16 all-weather lifeboats, 36 inshore lifeboats and two inshore rescue hovercraft.