News

A man has died after becoming trapped in mud with his 12-year-old son this afternoon (29 October), half a mile offshore at Pegwell Bay near Sandwich.

Coastguard teams from Deal and Ramsgate, and the RAF rescue helicopter from Wattisham helped an ambulance crew which had walked out onto the mud to the collapsed man.

The rescue helicopter lifted a police officer to where the 41-year-old man and his son were on the mud and airlifted all the people from the scene to the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital at Margate.

It is understood that the casualty was out on the mud with his young son and had suffered a fatal heart attack.

When the man collapsed his son alerted the emergency services by dialling 999 and getting through to the ambulance service.

Dover Coastguard, Watch Manager, Gordon Wise said: "In the current weather conditions and very low air temperatures any person working on a mud type surface will be liable to greater exertion than in warmer conditions. All people should take great care when venturing onto mud."