Seal Causes Major Incident Response Near Kew Bridge
RNLI, police and helicopter called after it was mistaken for body in water
A Marine Police boat with the Chiswick Lifeboat near Strand on the Green during the search. Picture: RNLI/David Clarke
April 9, 2024
Crowds gathered on Kew Bridge this Saturday afternoon (6 April) to see what appeared to be a major ongoing incident.
The Chiswick RNLI Lifeboat had been launched along with a Marine Police boat and a police helicopter to search the stretch of the Thames between the Bridge and Strand on the Green after reports had been received of a person in the water.
A thorough search was carried out with the responders looking into every likely spot along the foreshore and around moorings.
It was eventually discovered that what initially had appeared to be a person in the water turned out to be a seal.
Chiswick RNLI station manager, Wayne Bellamy, commented, ‘It might appear over the top for these resources to be committed to an exhaustive search when the outcome turned out to be a seal, but the report of a person in the water was made with good intent and we would much rather follow up such reports that miss the opportunity to help someone in distress.
‘In a search for a person in the Thames with its fast flowing tidal flows and many obstructions every minute counts.’
A helicopter joins the search. Picture: RNLI/David Clarke
Chiswick RNLI lifeboat station is the second busiest in the UK and Ireland. Since The RNLI search and rescue service on the Thames started in 2002, Chiswick Lifeboat has attended over 4,000 incidents and rescued over 1,750 people. The RNLI is entirely funded by public donations
This year, the RNLI celebrates its 200th birthday and during that time has saved more than 146,000 lives. RNLI lifeboats have been operating on the River Thames since 2002 and during that time have launched 18,544 times, aided 6,184 people and saved 680 lives.
For further information about the RNLI’s 200th anniversary, visit RNLI.org/200.
Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |