TWO men who came into difficulty while trying to wade through deep water in an area of the coast off Barrow had to be rescued by lifeboat volunteers.

A volunteer crew from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s Barrow station launched their inshore lifeboat to go to the aid of the two people at Foulney Island, south east of Barrow.

The alarm was raised by RNLI volunteers at Roa Island who observed two people who were walking on Foulney Island and attempting to make their way back to safety along the Foulney Embankment.

The two men had become cut off by the incoming tide and were attempting to get back to the mainland by wading through the water, lifeboat crew said.

The crew was paged and the inshore lifeboat, named ‘Vision of Tamworth’, was launched before 3pm yesterday.

The stricken men were recovered by the lifeboat and brought back to the safety of Roa Island. They were both were uninjured.

The lifeboat was re-housed and by 3.20pm had been made ready for the next launch.

An RNLI spokesman issued advice to people on what to do to avoid being caught up in a similar situation.

He said: “Whenever walking at the coast, it's always a good idea to check the local weather conditions and tides before going out in order to reduce the risk of getting into difficulty.”

Volunteers from Furness Coastguard were also on the case to help the two men in what crew said was the third call-out in 20 hours.

A Furness Coastguard spokesman said: “The team quickly assembled and were on scene ready to deploy two water technicians to join the two casualties on the island.

"Arriving at the same time Barrow Lifeboat had made their way from their boathouse and it was deemed safer for those casualties to be picked up by the lifeboat and taken back to Barrow boathouse.

“A great response to two local persons in distress.”