NINE people walking on rocks in the River Severn were saved as the tide came in thanks to the quick actions of a Severn Area Rescue Association (SARA) crew from Beachley.

The incident, on Saturday afternoon (April 18), was one of a number over the weekend, in addition to their assisting the British Orienteering Championships in the Forest.

As a result of the crew's actions the nine people were able to get back to shore before the area was covered by the incoming tide.

During the early hours of Sunday morning crews from Chepstow and Newport SARA helped the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service with an incident on the River Usk.

Then, at around 7.30pm on Sunday evening, a crew with SARA1 responded to a call that a boat was sinking near Chepstow.

Once they found the stricken craft, they manually bailed the water out until a high volume pump could be installed to keep the flow at bay. Once dry, the boat was towed to a safe location for the owner to fix.

While SARA1 was dealing with that, SARA3 was involved with two incidents on the Wye: the first being the rescue of a man reported to be adrift in a rowing boat. Having found him, they took him and his boat to Chepstow before setting off in a race to catch another boat that had slipped its moorings, and was headed upstream towards Tintern on a fast running tide. The missing vessel was found and also returned to Chepstow.

The teams, numbering a total of around 20 volunteers from SARA and Chepstow Coastguard, were stood down at around 10pm.