CHILDREN'S lives are being put needlessly at risk, parents are being warned.

Redcar lifeboat was launched three times in 48 hours last weekend, rescuing eight children who were in danger at sea on inflatable dinghies.

At 6.30pm last Friday, the lifeboat was called out to a dinghy with three girls aged six, ten and 11, and a 19-year-old woman on board. They were being blown out to sea near Zetland Park, Redcar.

The 19-year-old had attempted to push the boat back to shore but without success. None were wearing lifejackets.

In the most serious incident, at 5.45pm on Sunday, two 12-year-old boys from Darlington, suffered from hypothermia and were said to be extremely frightened when they were blown out to sea in Coatham Bay, west of Redcar.

Immediately after this incident the lifeboat was sent to assist a small power boat, with a man and two children from New Marske on board. The boat's engine had failed while the man had been attempting to rescue the children in the dinghy.

Just moments later the lifeboat was called out to two teenage boys from Middlesbrough in a similar inflatable in the same area of Coatham Bay.

Ian Readman, the station's operation manager, said: "This was a busy weekend for RNLI lifeboats dealing with inflatables round the North-East coast. The message is simple. Never, ever, take an inflatable dinghy onto the sea.

"Each year lives are lost unnecessarily and it is the responsibility of parents to make sure that their children play safely and do not become yet another tragic statistic.

"They would not give their child a ball and tell them to go and play with it on the M1. In the same way they should not let children use inflatables on the sea.

"Furthermore, anyone who loses a dinghy which floats out to sea should call 999 and report it to the coastguard. The lifeboat is sometimes unnecessarily called out when concerned people rightly call us when they see dinghies floating out at sea which turn out to be empty."