Visitors to Southend lifeboat station got to see some real action during an open day - when crews were called away to rescue stranded teenagers.

Scores of residents and tourists trekked to the end of the pier during the weekend to see the work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in Southend - one of the busiest centres in the country.

And they were treated to what happens in a real-life emergency at 4pm on Saturday as the main boat was launched following reports that seven youngsters had been cut off by the tide at Thorpe Bay.

Senior helmsman Paul Spratt said: "We had been taking visitors out on the main lifeboat and we were just about to do this when the call came in."

When the lifeboat arrived, five people had made it ashore leaving 17-year-olds Samantha Smith and Jodie Hayes, both from Southend, stranded by the tide.

The exhausted pair were taken ashore by the lifeboat and handed over to the coastguard.

A man and his son were also rescued from the sea off Barge Point, Shoebury, when a jet ski capsized at 7pm on Saturday.

Open day - Jonathan Fish is shown the ropes by RNLI crew members Matt Fossett and Martin Sach

Picture: ELISE GOW

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