South Shields Volunteer Brigade called to 12 incidents on same beach as heatwave crowds gather
Warm temperatures over the bank holiday weekend resulted in a busy few days for South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade.
The team at South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade say they were responding to three different calls at the same time on bank holiday Monday after crowds flocked to South Shields’ beaches.
Following the busy day for businesses and support teams along the coastline, South Shields Volunteer Life Brigade confirmed they were called for support on 12 separate occasions throughout the day.
The team said two teenagers were taken to hospital, while the most common incidents involved children separated from their families.
A full statement, posted to social media by the team, said: “The team were involved in multiple incidents today all on Sandhaven beach. A brief description below.
“Five lost children who were reunited with their parents. Two heavily intoxicated teenagers both taken to hospital. One male suffering from sun stroke. One person having a seizure. One person with breathing difficulties. One person suffering back pain that had to be stretchered from the beach. One jet ski drifting with no person on board.
“An extremely busy day for the team, all calls came within three hours of the first. We requested assistance from Sunderland Coastguard Rescue Team as at one time we were dealing with three incidents simultaneously.”
The team of volunteers have now been called to 71 incidents across 2026.
The team were also called to support a boat which lost its engine on the River Tyne after 11pm on Thursday, May 21.
Elsewhere on Tyneside, Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade was called to six different incidents within six hours, bringing their total number of calls for the month up to 23. The team assisted a man who had broken both his ankles on the beach in addition to reuniting families after children got lost.
The RNLI team at Sunderland were also called out to the North Sea to support a paddleboarder on Sunday, May 24.
Earlier this month the RNLI relaunched its ‘float to live’ campaign, encouraging people planning to head into the sea to understand the best way to stay safe in water. The safety experts tell anyone who is struggling to rest their head back against the water and keep their legs and arms moving to keep afloat.