THE RNLI has urged the public to be safe at sea ahead of the Easter holidays after new figures revealed more than 600 people found themselves in danger on the coastline of west Wales last year.

Lifeboat crews at the seven stations from Tenby to New Quay rescued 219 people in trouble at sea last year – a rise from 202 in 2015.

The charity’s lifeguards working on 16 west Wales beaches from Borth to Broad Haven responded to 403 incidents and rescued or assisted 429 people.

The figures come as families think about heading to the Welsh coastline during the Easter break and the RNLI wants to help equip people with the knowledge and skills to avoid trouble.

Matt Crofts, RNLI lifesaving manager, said: “Our annual Respect the Water drowning prevention campaign will be launching for 2017 soon, and we urge people to give the water the healthy respect it deserves.

“While we will always answer the call for help, myself and everyone within the RNLI would like to see people thinking about their safety at the coast.

“We’re calling on anyone visiting the coast to make safety a priority, whether that means wearing a lifejacket, checking their vessel before they go afloat, knowing they should call 999 and ask for the Coastguard in the event of an emergency, checking the tide times before they set out, or staying away from cliff edges and unstable coastal paths.”

Across the 30 RNLI stations in Wales, there was an increase of 11 per cent on lifeboats launches last year, with crews going to sea on rescue callouts 1,175 times.

Angle RNLI’s Tamar class lifeboat Mark Mason was the busiest all-weather lifeboat anywhere in Wales last year and averaged almost one call out a week with 50 launches, up on the 2015 total of 41.

The volunteer crew at Angle rescued a total of 57 people.

St Davids RNLI saw the biggest jump in the number of people rescued in 2016, with 39, more than double the 16 of the previous year.