I'll type a back in the Army story about two soldiers that braved a tornado and flash flood just to get a 12 pack of Busch.


Two men risk lives to go for a pint

Jun 22 2005

Daily Post


TWO men risked their lives walking along the beach from Southport to Blackpool while the tide was out so they could go to a pub.

The pair, both 25 and from Southport, refused to take a bus to the Lancashire resort where they had planned a night out.

But after trudging across the muddy flats, they found themselves stranded three-and-a-half miles from the shore as the tide came in, at 7pm on Monday.

A driver working late at a Southport sand plant spotted the pair and called Liverpool Coastguard. The Lytham St Anne's lifeboat crew came to their rescue and brought them ashore.

Liverpool Coastguard officer Paul Harrison said: "They were walking across to Blackpool because they apparently wanted a pint of beer.

"But they didn't realise the danger they were in. They are lucky to be alive. We have had a number of fatalities in that area in the past.

"The trouble is, from Southport, Blackpool looks so close and you can see the tower very clearly on these warm days.

"Unfortunately, the Ribble Estuary is in the way, and a lot of gutters that fill up very quickly. It is very treacherous. They could have drowned. There is no way you can walk it."

The men were uninjured.

The rescue came almost two years after a pair of boys became stranded in the estuary after attempting to walk the same route.

A search was launched involving two police helicopters, an RAF Sea King helicopter, five inshore rescue boats and three coastguard teams in August 2003.