FOUR holidaymakers were minutes away from drowning after they were 'sucked' into the sands of Morecambe Bay with the rapidly-rising tide just minutes away.

Rescuers faced a dramatic race against time to save the stricken quartet off the shore at Arnside as sea water began lapping around the sandbank they had become trapped on.

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Two teenagers, Amy and Charlotte Collier, managed to crawl to safety leaving their father, Gary, and friend, Karen Parkinson, at the mercy of the sea as it raced in.

Their lives were partly saved by the quick-thinking actions of Jeanette Hamer, landlady of Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, who had heard screams and saw the drama unfolding from her bedroom at the shoreline hostelry. She alerted the emergency services to the desperate plight of the pair still stuck on the sands.

While running across the beach to help, Ms Hamer tripped and badly injured her left knee. She ended up needing the help of paramedics herself and needed seven stitches in the three centimetre wound. But despite being in 'agony', she stayed on the phone and continued to co-ordinate the emergency response effort.

"It was awful," said Ms Hamer. "If I had not been in my bedroom she would have been washed away. It is frightening to think about what would have happened to her. I have never been so close to somebody [in an incident] and it was terrifying."

Mr Collier and his two daughters had been out training two Labradors on the beach on Monday afternoon, along with Ms Parkinson, when the tide siren sounded and they began to make their way to shore.

But just 30 metres from safety they ran into trouble and got caught up in quick sand.

"One of the young girls stumbled and fell," said Ms Parkinson, who is from Blackburn and had been holidaying in Cumbria. "So then their dad fell and I fell - but because we were all together it sucked us under and got us stuck."

"I thought I was going to die to be honest," said Ms Parkinson, who was trapped up to her waist. "The young girls started screaming and they couldn't get out and they were sinking deeper and deeper.

"Somebody from the side must have called the coastguard and they were talking to us from the side saying put your arms out and your legs out and just lie and spread your weight and that's what I did."

Ms Parkinson said that the girls managed to crawl to safety on their own but she did not want to take the risk.

Arnside coastguard station officer Andy Pringle said that he was giving instructions from the shoreline and his advice was crucial in helping to save their lives.

"We were very fortunate," he said, when speaking to a Gazette reporter at the scene. "We were already down on the station doing some jet ski training so we were able to come straight here."

A 12-strong rescue team managed to rapidly dig Mr Collier, from Bolton, and Ms Parkinson out and land them ashore, moments before the sandbank flooded with the incoming tide.

"They were covered in mud by the time we got there," Mr Pringle said. "They were actually lying flat on the ground which was great because that's what saved them.

"If they hadn't have been [lying flat] I think the result may have been different but because they were flat on the ground we were able to just recover them."

He said that they rescued Ms Parkinson as the tide hit and described it as 'very close'.

"It could have been very different very easily," he said.

Ms Parkinson said that she was 'so thankful' to the emergency services.

"I've been over and thanked them all," she said. "And I just can't thank them enough really, they've saved my life."

She added that she would be organising a charity event in aid of the organisations that helped her.

Furness Coastguard, Arnside & South Lakes Coastguard Rescue Team, Morecambe RNLI Hover Station and Bay Search & Rescue all attended the incident. Fire services and police officers were also at the scene.

Earlier this year, the Gazette re-launched its Safety on the Sands campaign, warning people to be careful of the treacherous and often unpredictable sands.

And with this incident comes renewed warnings from officials to always check the tide times before heading out, with landlord of Ye Olde Fighting Cocks Tony Keates calling for more warning signs to be put on the sand.

Paul Calland, deputy station officer for the Flookburgh-based Bay Search and Rescue, said: "Morecambe Bay can be a very dangerous place. We took the call out very, very seriously.

“When people get stuck on quicksand, they don’t die because of the quicksand. They drown when the tide hits them.”

The incident comes following a busy weekend for rescue teams, with Morecambe RNLI attending to a man stranded on his vehicle's roof after being cut off by the tide on Sunday (May 28).

At 2pm, the coastguard tasked the Morecambe RNLI volunteer lifeboat crew to go to the aid of the occupants of several vehicles reported to be stranded in the tide in the vicinity of Warton stock car track.

The RNLI inshore lifeboat and inshore rescue hovercraft were both launched but were stood down, following reports that everyone involved was safely ashore.

Almost immediately, the RNLI inshore lifeboat was then tasked to go to the aid of a man reported to be stranded on his vehicle roof after being cut off by the tide while crossing the causeway near Sunderland Point.

Launching from Overton, the lifeboat crew quickly located the casualty and transferred him to shore where he was taken into police custody.

Morecambe RNLI volunteer lifeboat operations manager, Kevin Jackson, said: "Once again, we must remind people of the importance of checking the time and height of tide before venturing near the shore. Failure to do so could cost them their lives."