Pregnant woman rescued by lifeboat crew after becoming trapped by tide

A pregnant woman was rescued by a lifeboat crew after her husband swam out of a cove to raise the alarm when they became trapped by the tide.

The woman was cut off by the tide below steep cliffs near the Barrowfields in Newquay, Cornwall, on Saturday evening.

Her husband managed to swim out of the cove around to the north east side of Tolcarne Beach to raise the alarm.

RNLI volunteers managed to rescue the woman and brought her safely to the beach just before 9.30pm.

A spokeswoman said: "Newquay's RNLI lifeboat volunteers rescued a pregnant woman who was trapped by the tide below steep cliffs near the Barrowfields, more than two hours before high tide on Saturday evening.

"Her husband swam out of the cove and around to the north east side of Tolcarne Beach to raise the alarm and our RNLI volunteers quickly arrived on the charity's D class inshore lifeboat, having first carefully negotiated large submerged rocks in the one-metre swell, using the lifeboat's emergency oars to gauge the depth of water and guide them safely towards the woman's position.

"With Newquay Coastguard providing support from the cliff top, the RNLI lifeboat crew were able to manoeuvre back out past the rocks and landed the unhurt woman safely on Tolcarne Beach just before 9.30pm, along with a surfer who had gone to her aid before emergency services arrived."

High tide on Saturday was at about 11.40pm.

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