Moment quick-thinking digger driver uses bucket of his machine to rescue stranded workmate from the sea after his vehicle became stuck in the sand
This is the amusing moment a quick-thinking digger driver uses the bucket of his machine to rescue a stranded workmate from the sea after his vehicle became stuck in the sand.
The hapless worker had been operating a mechanical digger to replace sea groynes – a line of wooden pillars designed to protect a shoreline – when it became stuck in soft sand around lunchtime today.
The large vehicle then tilted to one side as the tide came in around it in Bournemouth, Dorset.
The driver isolated the biodegradable fuel supply before exiting the cab.
By this stage the digger was almost fully submerged in the sea and so a colleague maneuvered his machine into position and lowered the arm of his bucket towards the cab.
The digger further out to sea begins to tilt over to one side as his workmate closer to the shore begins his daring rescue
A close up image of the driver as his digger begins to tip over due to hitting soft sand while trying to repair sea groynes
The quick-thinking digger driver begins to bring his workmate back to safety in the bucket of his machine
The workman, wearing a bright orange jacket and a hard hat, climbed into the bucket and was lifted to the safety of the beach.
Dhanjo Shelton, a 30-year-old software engineer, witnessed the daring digger rescue.
He said: ‘The driver seemed fine and was able to walk away thanks to his mate. He did seem a bit grumpy afterwards though.’
There are three diggers operating on the sandy beach as part of a £33m scheme, funded by the Environment Agency, to dismantle and replace three groynes.
The new groynes will protect the coastline from rising sea levels for the next 100 years, without it the council say the coastline could erode by up to a metre each year.
The work is expected to be ongoing until March next year and the section of the beach is closed to the public.
A spokesperson from BCP Council said: ‘This morning, during our normal activities to renew the timber groynes at East Cliff, one of the excavators hit soft sand and became stuck, becoming swamped by the rising tide.
The driver, who got into trouble, isolated the biodegradable fuel supply before escaping his cab
The digger driver lands safety on the beach after getting into trouble after hitting a soft section of sand
The digger driver carried his rucksack out of his workmate’s bucket after a daring rescue
‘A rescue plan is underway and our contractors hope to retrieve the excavator at low tide.
‘We are pleased to report that the driver is uninjured and had the foresight to switch off the bio-degradable fuel supply, sealing the tank.
‘Sand becomes very unstable when it is excavated around groynes and this is why we ask people not enter or pass the construction zone along the water’s edge, even at low tide.’
The rescue comes a week after a hero crane driver rescued a work colleague from the roof of a blazing building in Readig, Berks, by manoeuvring a metal basket towards him.
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