Prince William Leads Rescue Mission at Cymyran Beach

Prince William today led a rescue operation of two young girls swept out to sea off the Anglesey coast. The Royal Air Force described the mission as one of the “fastest and shortest” operations, with the helicopter, captained by Prince William, taking only 38 seconds to arrive after the distress call was received.

The younger of the girls, aged just 13, got caught in on a riptide while body-boarding: her 16-year-old eldest sister was trapped tried to came to her assistance, but unfortunately both were swept out to sea. A surfer who was close to them managed to take the younger girl to safety, but they couldn’t reach the elder sister who was exhausted and “fighting a losing battle”. For a few seconds, she even disappeared under the waves – and that’s when Rescue 137 arrived. According to winchman, Master Aircrew Harry Harrison: “When I got to her, the elder girl was clearly exhausted and was going under the water for what was the very last time… We truly did arrive in the nick of time and managed to save two young lives.”

Flight Lieutenant Smith, co-pilot, added: “This was a remarkably swift rescue, taking around 38 seconds from take-off until we arrived on scene.” The teenagers were taken to Ysbysty Gwynedd in Bangor after the incident. The elder girl managed to thank the winchman and the crew on the way to hospital. She told him she thought it was all over as she sank beneath the waves.

Before the incident, the crew had just returned from another operation at Rhosneigr where a child and three adults were carried out by a rip tide. Barely had Rescue 137 landed when the new distress call came: because the crew and the helicopter were fully prepared, they managed to be airborne within seconds.

Prince William became a Search and Rescue pilot in 2010 and qualified as a Captain on 29 May 2012, after successfully passing his tests.

Filed under The United Kingdom
Tagged Military Training, Royal Air Force, The Duke of Cambridge.

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