Thirty-four teenagers and two adults rescued from hazardous stretch of coast after getting stranded during evening walk

More than 30 teenagers trapped by the rising tide on a treacherous rocky shore when a coastal walk went dangerously wrong were rescued by helicopter and lifeboats after using their mobile phone torches as distress beacons.

The 34 boys, aged between 13 and 14 and accompanied by two adults, got stranded after descending from the coastal path between St Margaret’s Bay and Dover harbour during the trip organised by the Ahvas Yisroel community centre in Stamford Hill, north London, on Monday.

As darkness fell, and the tide came in, they raised the alarm after becoming trapped on a shoreline strewn with large boulders and in an active cliff fall area.

The coastguard launched an air and sea search involving a helicopter based at Lydd, Dover RNLI lifeboat, two inshore Walmer RNLI lifeboats and Langdon coastguard team.

A team of volunteers from the Stamford Hill Shomrim volunteer guard, the Jewish neighbourhood watch organisation, also rushed to Dover to assist with the search after one of those stranded alerted it to the group’s plight at about 9pm.

All were finally rescued by 11pm from three locations, as the group had split up, and were strung out along one mile of coastline. Thirty-one were rescued by lifeboat, while five, who were on nearby rocks shouting for help, were taken by helicopter. None required hospital treatment.

It is thought the hiking group had descended from the cliff path intending to take a shortcut back to Dover.









Mark Finnis, Dover RNLI coxswain, said the group had been in great danger. “From what I can make out, they walked along the top of the cliff to St Margaret’s Bay from Dover. Once they got to St Margaret’s Bay, I’m understanding, they thought they would take a short cut back long the rocky shoreline.

“It is very inhospitable. We are not talking about little rocks, There are some pretty hefty boulders down there. They weren’t dressed for it at all, didn’t have the correct footwear,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.



“Less than two hours later, they would have been swimming, because the tide is rising all the time. They were cut off by the tide. There is no footpath in this particular stretch of shoreline. It is purely a rocky walk.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Students return to Dover on a lifeboat after being rescued from a beach. Photograph: FameFlynet.uk.com

He added it seemed the group were trying to reach an access point from the beach to the cliff path that was no longer there. “It was always deemed a dangerous access, and it was probably taken away because of it.”



He said the group were in high spirits and had not seemed to appreciate the danger they were in, which was spelled out to them when they got back to Dover. The RNLI said the group had walked past nine signs warning them not to continue.



A spokesman for the community centre said a full investigation into the incident would be held so that lessons could be learned, and praised the coastguard and RNLI. The boys were being supervised by two community centre staff at the time.

“We are hugely grateful to the coastguard whose swift actions ensured that everyone was returned to shore safe and well. A full internal investigation will be held to ascertain the facts and understand the lessons to be learned,” the centre said in a statement.

The spokesman added: “Look, mistakes happen. The coastguard has said in their statement that mistakes happen, and that lessons should be learned and urging people to take greater care. We are not treating it as an irrelevance. It’s important. We want to have a proper investigation and we want to get all the facts.”

All the boys were now safely back in London with their parents. “Just like every other community centre or youth group take their kids on outings, they went on an outing and, unfortunately … well it could have been so much worse if it wasn’t for the wonderful, wonderful actions of the coastguards,” he said.







Facebook Twitter Pinterest The group had been following a coastal path between St Margaret’s Bay (pictured) and Dover harbour on Monday night. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

The first group of 17 stranded were rescued at 9.50pm below the south Foreland lighthouse after the Walmer RNLI raft saw the flashing lights from their phones. Further east, near the ZigZags steps, another group of 19 people were found. Of this group, five had separated off and were rescued by helicopter off the rocks.

Chaim Hochhauser, supervisor at Stamford Hill Shomrim, said: “Volunteers from Stamford Hill Shomrim were called by a group of people stranded near the Dover cliffs as night was falling. Several Shomrim volunteers drove down from London to support the group and liaised with parents and families throughout the incident which thankfully ended well, thanks to the great work by RNLI and HM Coastguard.”

Richard Cockerill, UK Coastguard senior maritime operations officer, said: “The group was advised to switch on their mobile phone lights to help us locate them. The group was located by one of the Walmer lifeboats in an area of active cliff falls and also spotted by the helicopter using the forward-looking infrared camera.”

Andy Roberts, Launching Authority at Dover lifeboat station, said “everything was thrown” at this rescue. “If we hadn’t got there in time, it could have been a different story. It could have been a tragedy. It is a 300ft cliff, and the signal can be bad.

“If the phones hadn’t worked, we wouldn’t have known they were there. There are no passing ships, or people on the clifftop, not at that time of night. The majority of them didn’t realise the implications of what could have happened.”

He added: “The group were spread out over a mile. They should have stayed together. It is a lot easier searching for 36 people grouped together than separated.”



The Dover lifeboat station deputy launching authority, James Salmon, said: “As we approach the summer with lighter evenings, this incident highlights how easy it can be to get cut off by the tide whilst out walking. The group also faced the dangers of cliff falls along this iconic stretch of coastline.”













