Men rescued after sea swamps car

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Two men were rescued from the sea after going into the water to try to salvage a stranded hire car, lifeguards said.

The men went into the sea at Brean, Somerset, on Saturday evening after realising the tide was coming in and the Ford Fiesta was trapped in the mud.

The men were spotted in difficulty almost half a mile out on mudflats.

Norman Templeman from the Burnham Area Rescue Boat said they managed to get the men out of the water but it was too late to pull the car out by tractor.

Mr Templeman said the Fiesta, which the men had hired that day, was the sixth vehicle to get stranded this week.

The rescue charity's chairman Mark Newman said: "The safety of the car's occupants was our top priority.

"Once it became clear that the car could not be saved, we wanted to ensure that the two motorists were safely out of the water and not putting their lives at risk by trying to pull the car from the sea.

"We would never recommend that people get into the water to try to reach a vehicle - the currents in the Bristol Channel are very powerful."

The men, believed to be from Taunton, were unhurt.