Man with just ‘chest, head and one arm’ poking out from quicksand rescued by emergency crews

Crew rescued the man in Morecambe Bay as the tide ‘rapidly’ came in

A man who was trapped in quicksand as the tide came in was rescued in what has been described as a “surreal close call”.

The Bay Search and Rescue team, who operate in the Morecambe Bay area, were called to the beach at Silverdale at 11.30am on Saturday after a man got trapped in quicksand.

The casualty was transferred to the team’s all-terrain vehicle to warm up (Bay Search and Rescue)

The team said that at first glance, only the man’s “chest, head, one arm, and part of one leg” were still visible, as “a big tide was rapidly pushing into the bay”.

“Very quickly we came across the casualty, who was lying on his back in a soft gulley – at first glance only his chest, head, one arm, and part of one leg were still visible, but because he had laid right, he was thankfully not in too deep,” the team said, adding that he was “completely exhausted and quite hypothermic”.

The crew inflated two rescue air pathways to reach him, placing one behind him to prevent him from sinking further, and the other in front to enable them to reach him.

The man was safely removed from the quicksand in a matter of minutes, and was brought onto the pathway.

He was transferred to the team’s all-terrain vehicle to warm up, as he was “extremely cold and showing signs of hypothermia”, and was wrapped in foil blankets after being assessed by a medic.

The rescue was described as a ‘surreal close call’ (Bay Search and Rescue)

“As we left the scene, the tide had already begun to fill the gulley – a surreal reminder of just how close this call was,” the crew said.

The man was taken to a local cafe and was handed over to the North West Ambulance Service for further assessment.

The crew said the incident demonstrated the effectiveness of the emergency services in the area, saying: “This rescue was a true display of teamwork across agencies – a reminder of the coordination, skill, and dedication that keeps our coastline safe. A huge thank you to everyone involved.”

In May, the rescue team told the BBC that they had found more patches of quicksand in the area this year than they had seen for 30 years. They advised anyone who finds themselves trappedin quicksand to lie down in order to “distribute their weight over as great an area as possible”.

Quicksand is formed when sand becomes waterlogged, which can happen in estuaries with tides.