Sea-horse Drama

- Fri 18th Jul 2003

Local emergency services launched a dramatic rescue on Wednesday night to help four horses stranded at sea off West Beach.




The horses were part of a group being raced along Hayling beach by riders visiting from London. Having been spooked by some unknown cause, four of the horses ran off without their riders on to the West Winner sandbank. As the tide continued to rise, the horses became stranded apparently unable to cross the short gap back to shallow water.Once the alarm was raised flares were fired to raise Hayling's RNLI lifeboat crew, who searched for the horses along the seafront. Coastguard and firefighters joined the search and directed the rescue mission.




Three of the animals were rescued but one horse died, despite the frantic efforts of the coastguard and firefighters trying to reach it.

By forum user, Mat