Brave kayaker saves life of boy stuck up to neck in mud in Havant as tide quickly comes in

Quick-thinking Daniel Artingstall was planning on going out on his kayak at Broadmarsh Coastal Park off Harts Farm Way, Havant, on Monday around 7.20pm when he was surprised to see around 60 emergency crew turn up at the location.

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The 31-year-old from Portsmouth, who was familiar with the ‘dangerous’ muddy terrain having spent years bait digging at the location, soon found himself thrust into action to rescue the 15-year-old boy as the teenager’s two helpless friends watched on.

As reported on Tuesday, a large-scale rescue operation swept into action. It included the Coastguard, fire crews from the area, police and paramedics including an incident response unit. After wondering what was happening, Daniel got his phone out and was shocked to discover a boy 150 metres out from shore who was stuck neck deep in mud.

Fearing the emergency crews were taking too long and had ‘no plan’ after underestimating how little time they had before the tide came in, Daniel took matters upon himself to rescue the stricken teenager. ‘I saw the boy was right out there stuck up to his neck in mud and the emergency services were still on the shore. They had no plan of what to do it seemed. I thought, “I’ve got to go and get him. I can’t leave him”,’ he said.

‘He was stuck up to his neck deep in mud with water coming in quickly. In another 10-15 minutes his head would have been under water. It was scary.’

Daniel grabbed his kayak and pushed it across mud banks and rode out on water before getting to the boy. ‘I hopped out of the kayak and pulled him out while he grabbed the kayak. I then rowed over to a mud bank to safety,’ he said.

‘The boy said he had been stuck for an hour and half. He was very calm when I got to him. It’s important not to panic in those situations. If you move you make the hole deeper.

‘He was in shock and said he was cold so I told him to keep moving after we got off the kayak. He said they had been out following the tide when he got stuck.’

The boy was reunited with his ‘very grateful’ dad who had been called to the scene, Daniel said, before adding: ‘I just had to go and rescue the boy. He would have been dead otherwise. You can’t hang about. The tide comes in very quickly. The emergency services were asking me how deep it was…I don’t think they realised the full danger the boy was in.

‘I wouldn’t advise anyone to go out on the mud there unless they are with someone who knows what they are doing. You get hard bits but there can be soft bits. They boy got stuck in a soft bit and tried to wiggle and then fell through.

‘I’m just glad he is ok and it had a happy ending. It could have been very different. It would be nice to see him again and find out how he is doing.’

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