Teens rescued from drowning after Pokemon Go search goes wrong

SIX teenagers had a lucky escape after almost getting cut off by the sea while searching for Pokemon Go characters.

Pokemon Go players needed rescued from rising tide. Picture: Kirill Kukhmar\TASS via Getty Images

The boys had been hunting for the virtual creatures at the unsafe Old Pier on Birnbeck Island, Weston super Mare, Somerset.

Pokemon Go has attracted millions of users worldwide and involves finding the characters in real locations across the world.

Weston’s volunteer lifeboat crew were alerted by Milford Haven Coastguard shortly before 9pm on Thursday to rescue the group.

Meanwhile police, the fire brigade and local coastguard teams gathered at the landward end of the pier in case the teenagers became trapped.

As the volunteer lifeboat crew launched, they spotted two boys wading back across the shingle bank to the shore with the tide rising rapidly to chest height.

Before the lifeboat could enter the water the teenagers scrambled their way back to the shore to the waiting coastguard team.

The lifeboat crew then noticed four more boys walking along the pier’s unsafe walkway back to the shore.

They were forced to leave the old boathouse on the island three years ago because the same walkway had been deemed too dangerous for volunteers to use.

The crew waited to see all the group made it back to the shore to be met by the police and coastguard.

The RNLI said no one was injured in the incident.

Crew member Chris Lyons said: “It is great to see people getting out and about enjoying themselves, however, putting your life in danger trying to catch Pokemon is extremely irresponsible.

“In Weston the tide comes in so quickly, in seconds you can be in life-threatening danger.

“I would like to say please if you do see a Pokemon either on the rocks or in the muddy areas of Weston bay, don’t put yourself into a position where you could become stuck.

“The water is unforgiving, it doesn’t give you a second chance whereas a game will.”

This is the latest incident involving Pokemon Go.

On Wednesday night three girls were spotted by the police standing in rough seas near Hastings Pier in East Sussex.

Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire, has put up signs telling players of the Nintendo game that its grounds are out of bounds, The Sun newspaper reported.

And in Plymouth, Devon, a foot passenger using the Torpoint Ferry was reportedly ejected after staying on the ferry for an extended period to catch Pokemon.

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