Trapped Lossiemouth beach goers rescued from high tide
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SEVERAL members of the public had to be rescued from Lossiemouth's East Beach yesterday after becoming trapped by a high tide.
The East Beach bridge was closed on Wednesday evening after it was deemed unsafe after a Moray Council inspection.
Yesterday, beach goers, still desperate to get to the popular area, waded across the water at low tide but, as the tide rose, realised they were unable to get back across.
Between 40 and 50 people had to be rescued, and were guided across the water on rafts, or taken across the out-of-bounds bridge in pairs.
Lossiemouth Community Council posted a statement regarding the incident on their Facebook page last night. It said: "At 4.45 today (Thursday), members of the community council became aware of people stuck on the east beach. Most of these were youngsters but included several small children and parents.
"Most of them had crossed when the tide was at its lowest ebb. They were caught out by the high tides later on the day. This is understandable, people don't all know how dangerous the sea is and they get carried away enjoying the sun, sea and beach.
"We very quickly became concerned about the 40 to 50 people on the beach, many of whom were attempting to cross despite high tides and currents and increasing wind. We had no alternative but to contact the police, the coastguard and the RNLI. Thankfully everyone was evacuated over the course of the next three hours. Huge grateful thanks to our emergency services for all their help tonight."
With another hot day due today, the community council is continuing to advise against using the each beach.
The statement added: "The forecast tomorrow is for another hot day. Members of the community council will be on duty all day advising people not to cross and encouraging them to go to the west beach.
"We were shocked to see people clambering over the barricade and indeed parents with very small children attempting to cross the high tide as we evacuated those stranded.
"We do not want to see any loss of life in our community so we need to ask everyone to spread the word.
"It is not safe to cross there at low tide as you may well be stranded. We all have a responsibility to be proactive and to warn others about the risks."
Yesterday, politicians were coming up with solutions to the closure of the East Beach bridge, which has ultimately led to this chaos.
Douglas Ross, MP for Moray, raised the issue at Westminster, while SNP MSP Richard Lochhead and SNP Council Convener Shona Morrison are seeking to enlist the help of the army at Kinloss barracks and create a "taskforce".
The community council added: "We had a series of meetings today with the Lossiemouth Community Development Trust, Lossiemouth Business Association and the Moray Council. It must be said that the structural survey on the briggie is looking very grim, we will issue a joint statement as soon as possible."
