Lifeboat stalwarts praised for onshore rescue attempt

THEIR daring rescues are usually carried out at sea.

But two members of the Humber RNLI lifeboat crew have been commended for their courage and quick-thinking in rescuing a woman from a tidal surge – on land.

Dave Steenvoorden, coxswain of the Humber lifeboat and crewman Steve Purvis had already been called out to help two families who had got stuck on their way home to Spurn Point, the narrow peninsula jutting out into the North Sea which is base for the country’s only full-time RNLI crew, last November 27.

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Unusual weather conditions had left three-quarters of a mile of road under water – with surf coming from the seaside and rain and waves from the estuary – and Donna Allen, who works at the Humber Pilot’s base, trapped in her car, with waves breaking over the vehicle in the pitch black of a winter’s night.

With Dave directing the RNLI Land Rover’s lights, Mr Purvis tried to open the driver’s side, but it was impossible because of the breaking waves.

Mr Steenvoorden said: “The conditions were really freaky, the water was literally rising as if you were filling your bath, in 20 years I’ve never experienced it coming in as quick as that.

“A few waves had come over the dunes and put sand on the road and she had got stuck in that. Just after that the waves punched through the dunes. There was half a metre or so of water on the road when we got there and on top of that a metre and a half wave action coming up the beach and hitting the car and going over the top so she couldn’t get out.”

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He called for back-up from the rescue helicopter and coastguard team, before going out to help his colleague: “Between us we managed to wrench the door open which acted as a wedge to stop the car rolling and pulled her out.”

With some difficulty Mr Steenvoorden managed to get the Land Rover out from the waterlogged sand but Ms Allens’s car, which had to be left, was “smashed to bits.”

The pair are being presented with a framed letter of thanks on Friday April 27. In the letter RNLI chairman Admiral the Lord Boyce writes: “This was a courageous act carried out in the finest tradition of the RNLI, where speed and initiative were of the essence to save the woman’s life. Well done, indeed!”

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