The lives of four swimmers were saved by a Pembrokeshire lifeboat yesterday evening, Sunday August 14.

The quartet had been swept several hundred metres out to sea from Tenby when they were rescued by the town’s RNLI inshore lifeboat.

The lifeboat was launched at 8pm after the coastguard received a call reporting that four swimmers were caught in the current between St Catherine's Island and Castle beach and were being taken out to sea.

The volunteer crew were on scene in minutes and quickly spotted the casualties frantically waving to them.

They were quickly plucked from the water and checked over to make sure they needed no medical assistance. Luckily, they were cold and very tired but otherwise, unharmed.

As the crew headed towards shore to drop off the casualties, they offered a lift back in to a member of the public that had spotted the swimmers in difficulty and was swimming out to assist.

With all the swimmers now safely ashore, the lifeboat was stood down to return to station, arriving at 8.15pm.

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A spokesperson for Tenby RNLI said: "When going sea swimming, always try to go with others and keep an eye out for signs alerting you to dangers such as rips and currents.

“The swimmers were very lucky on this occasion that someone spotted them in difficulty and that the lifeboat crew got there so quickly, otherwise it could have been a totally different outcome.

“Our thanks to the swimmer who was on their way to assist and also to the kayakers who were arriving on scene to help at the same time as the lifeboat".