A GROUP of dog walkers were rescued after being cut off by the tide and up to their knees in seawater off the coast of Teesside on Monday.

A man and two women were walking two dogs at Marske, east Cleveland, just before 11.30am when they found themselves marooned on a sand bank.

They phoned the Coastguard to raise the alarm and two RNLI lifeboats from Redcar, together with the Skinningrove rescue team, were sent to the scene.

Dave Cocks, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Redcar RNLI, said: "The Coastguard contacted us just before 11.30am and requested our lifeboats proceed to Marske where three people and two dogs had become cut off by the incoming tide.

"When the lifeboats arrived the crews found the people up to their knees in the rapidly rising tide.

"Two volunteer crew members were sent ashore to reassured the stranded people and to see if there was a safe round to walk them back to safety, but the water was waist-deep at points.

"The crew then used one of the lifeboats to ferry the walkers and their pets, a collie-type dog and a spaniel, back to the beach at Marske where they were put into the care of the UK Coastguard team.

"It’s very unusual for people to be cut off by the tide at that particular point, in fact I can’t recall a similar incident."

The Northern Echo:

A dog is brought onboard. Photo: RNLI

He said the group did the right thing by raising the alarm and then staying in the same place.

He added: "The tide was rising rapidly and there was quite a fast-flowing current between them and the beach.

"They told our crew that they always check the tide times before setting out but they found themselves trapped on a sand bar which they’d never seen at Marske before."

The incident happened over three hours before high tide and on the day of a so-called super moon, when the moon is closer to the earth than at any other time, which is thought to create higher-than-usual tides.