Three men had to be rescued after drifting out to sea… on a giant inflatable duck.

They pumped up ‘Quackers’ at Westward Ho! beach in Devon, before setting sail with a friend on an inflatable kayak.

After five minutes, they had floated 75 metres from the beach and the friend in the kayak was unsuccessfully trying to push them back.

The coastguard was called when they ended up 200 metres offshore, and poor Quackers was seemingly never making it back on its own accord.

In the meantime, a man on a paddleboard bravely went out to rescue them.

He managed to tow Quackers close enough to the beach for the men to jump out and swim to safety.

But the duck was immediately blown back out to sea.

A lifeboat arrived as the men made it to shore – but don’t worry, Quackers did survive the ordeal on Tuesday.

The RNLI said: ‘With the strong tides and offshore breezes of the Bristol Channel, the RNLI urges people never to take an inflatable toy into the sea.

‘There is no way to control them, and they get pulled out from shore within seconds.

‘If any member of the public sees someone getting into difficulty in the water, please, as this eyewitness did, call 999 and ask for the coastguard.’

RNLI crew member Del Elsemore added: ‘The quick thinking of this member of the public with a paddleboard prevented a nasty situation turning much worse. He was the real lifesaver of the day.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article