Pokémon Go searching teenagers have lucky escape from rising tide

Six UK teenagers had a lucky escape after almost getting cut off by the sea while searching for Pokémon Go characters.

Pokémon Go searching teenagers have lucky escape from rising tide

Six UK teenagers had a lucky escape after almost getting cut off by the sea while searching for Pokémon Go characters.

The boys had been hunting for the virtual creatures at the unsafe Old Pier on Birnbeck Island, Weston super Mare, Somerset.

Pokémon Go has attracted millions of users worldwide and involves finding the characters in real locations across the world.

Weston's volunteer lifeboat crew were alerted by Milford Haven Coastguard shortly before 9pm on Thursday to rescue the group.

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Meanwhile police, the fire brigade and local coastguard teams gathered at the landward end of the pier in case the teenagers became trapped.

As the volunteer lifeboat crew launched, they spotted two boys wading back across the shingle bank to the shore with the tide rising rapidly to chest height.

Before the lifeboat could enter the water the teenagers scrambled their way back to the shore to the waiting coastguard team.

The lifeboat crew then noticed four more boys walking along the pier's unsafe walkway back to the shore.

They were forced to leave the old boathouse on the island three years ago because the same walkway had been deemed too dangerous for volunteers to use.

The crew waited to see all the group made it back to the shore to be met by the police and coastguard.

The RNLI said no one was injured in the incident.

Crew member Chris Lyons said: "It is great to see people getting out and about enjoying themselves, however, putting your life in danger trying to catch Pokémon is extremely irresponsible.

"In Weston the tide comes in so quickly, in seconds you can be in life-threatening danger.

"I would like to say please if you do see a Pokémon either on the rocks or in the muddy areas of Weston bay, don't put yourself into a position where you could become stuck.

"The water is unforgiving, it doesn't give you a second chance whereas a game will."

This is the latest incident involving Pokémon Go.

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