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| Sea rescue as 33 cut off by tide | Sea rescue as 33 cut off by tide |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Lifeboat crews and coastguard teams have rescued 33 university students cut off by the incoming tide at an East Sussex beauty spot. | Lifeboat crews and coastguard teams have rescued 33 university students cut off by the incoming tide at an East Sussex beauty spot. |
| The group were on the beach beneath the Seven Sisters cliffs near Seaford when the sea cut them off at about 1630 BST. | The group were on the beach beneath the Seven Sisters cliffs near Seaford when the sea cut them off at about 1630 BST. |
| Coastguards rescue teams from Newhaven and Birling Gap and lifeboats from Newhaven and Eastbourne were sent out. | Coastguards rescue teams from Newhaven and Birling Gap and lifeboats from Newhaven and Eastbourne were sent out. |
| The coastguard said the students were reached before the water got too high up the cliff and no-one was hurt. | The coastguard said the students were reached before the water got too high up the cliff and no-one was hurt. |
| The students, all from Sussex University, were brought ashore safely by about 1900 BST. | |
| David Williams, watch manager at the Solent Maritime and Rescue Co-ordination centre, said the group was taken by smaller lifeboats to the Newhaven all-weather lifeboat and then on to the Newhaven Lifeboat House. | |
| 'A bit wet' | |
| "Fortunately we reached the students before the tide rose too high up the cliff and there are no injuries sustained by students that tried to climb," he said. | "Fortunately we reached the students before the tide rose too high up the cliff and there are no injuries sustained by students that tried to climb," he said. |
| "This is a well-known area that gets cut off by the tide, it is important when visiting the coast to always be prepared and find out tide times, which are easily available from a number of local sources and the internet." | "This is a well-known area that gets cut off by the tide, it is important when visiting the coast to always be prepared and find out tide times, which are easily available from a number of local sources and the internet." |
| Ian Johns, the coxswain of the Newhaven lifeboat which helped rescue the party, said the students were given drinks before they made their way back to university. | |
| He said: "Some of them got a bit wet but they were all fine. | |
| "Had they stayed where they were at high tide, there is a bit of beach which they could have sheltered on until the tide fell, but they would have had quite a long wait for that to happen." |