TORONTO – On a purely visual level, this may rank as one of the strangest maritime rescues ever caught on film.
A search and rescue team with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in England were forced to retrieve a man standing atop his van Tuesday… in what appears to be the ocean, far away from the nearest shore.
In fact, the man had been attempting to drive to Osea Island on England’s Essex coast when the causeway became flooded.
As the floodwaters rose, the man was forced to take refuge atop the roof of his navy blue van.
By the time the volunteer rescue team from TNLI arrived on the scene, it would appear at first glance that the man and his vehicle had become stranded somehow in the middle of the ocean.
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“When the lifeboat arrived, we found the driver standing on the roof. The water had risen up to the van’s windows, covering the seats inside,” Martin Wade, the West Mersea RNLI Lifeboat operations manager, told the Telegraph. “Eventually the tide would have completely swamped the vehicle.”
“Despite his precarious position, the driver seemed quite relaxed, but he was obviously pleased to see the RNLI crew. We got him aboard the lifeboat and attached a marker buoy to the van to warn passing boats. The crew took the driver ashore at Mill Beach unhurt and completely dry.”
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a volunteer organization formed in 1824, and dedicated to saving lives in the waters around the United Kingdom.
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