TWO teenage brothers were plucked from the sea in a dramatic high-speed rescue off the North-East coast last night.

The boys, aged 15 and 13, from Carlin How, east Cleveland, had got into difficulties while swimming off the beach at nearby Skinningrove when the alarm was raised at 8pm by a trainee crew member of Staithes and Runswick RNLI, who happened to be walking on Skinningrove Pier.

Sam Shelley contacted the Coastguard and messaged fellow crew members at Staithes and the inshore lifeboat was launched within four minutes of the alarm being raised.

Eight minutes later in fast fading light crew members Richard Pennell and Luke Hutchinson spotted the boys clinging to debris a quarter of a mile off the beach and hauled them aboard.

The crew sped the casualties back to Staithes where they were met by paramedics and Coastguard teams. They were given hot showers and warm RNLI clothing before being taken by ambulance to James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough for more precautionary checks.

It was a night to remember for Staithes RNLI helmsman and Tees pilot Lee Jackson. He was celebrating his wedding anniversary in the Endeavour Restaurant on the High Street in Staithes when the call came and he dropped everything to race to the lifeboat station and take control at sea.

“This was a textbook operation that showed the RNLI at its very best,” said an RNLI spokesman last night. “Just a few minutes later and it could have been deadly serious. The boys were getting very cold, they were wearing only shorts and T-shirts and it would have been even harder to find them in pitch blackness. As it was the crew did exceptionally well to locate them at sea so quickly.

“To launch in four minutes from the alarm is just about a record for this station and for our volunteer crew to have brought the boys back to warmth and safety in under 20 minutes is remarkable. Great credit too to our trainee Sam Shelley who raised the alarm in exemplary fashion.”