I was forced to swim to a secret UK beach with my two kids after our boat exploded – here’s how we survived
THIS is the dramatic moment a shipwrecked family were forced to swim to a secret beach after their boat exploded.
Joe Davies and his two sons were on a fishing trip in Poole Harbour, Dorset, when the engine on their inflatable boat caught fire and sank.
Joe helped his sons Sonny, 11, and eight-year-old Rudy, out of the 15ft rigid boat and into the water, before swimming to land.
But the closest land to them was a nearby isolated beach on the Arne peninsula.
The dad-of-two raised the alarm using his mobile phone that had luckily been kept in a waterproof bag.
As his phone had stayed dry during the nightmare ordeal, Joe was able to call for safety and save the lives of himself and his kids.
While they waited for rescue to come, the family looked on in horror as the blazing boat sank.
A lifeboat crew from Poole RNLI arrived on the scene minutes later and plucked the trio to safety.
All three were wearing lifejackets as they boarded the rescue boat and sped away from the fiery scene.
The dad said: “The fire took hold pretty quickly, and with the fuel tanks on board I didn’t know what was going to explode.
“There was no other option than to bail out”.
He added that they all had their buoyancy aids on, and since it was low tide, the family didn’t have to swim too far before they reached the shore.
“Within five minutes the boat was fully ablaze, he said”.
“We were very lucky with where it happened – if we were back where we were fishing it would have been a different story.
“I can’t praise the RNLI enough for how quickly they got out to us and the treatment we received.
“The boys were very cold and shaky and we got taken to the station for hot showers, a change of clothes and cups of tea.”
Dave Bursey, an RNLI volunteer, carried the young boys into the lifeboat.
He said: “We were very pleased when we arrived on scene to see that all three casualties had made it to shore safely and nobody had been injured in the fire.
“Fortunately, they were all wearing buoyancy aids and weren’t too far from the shore.
“The dad did the right thing in carrying a means for calling help in a waterproof pouch, then dialling 999 and asking for the coastguard as soon as it was safe to do so.”