Teen prank risks lives
TWO teenagers put the lives of rescue workers in danger when they sparked a major mayday alert yesterday by jumping off a pier in a tombstoning prank.
The pair, aged 16 and 18, hurled themselves off Clacton Pier in Essex where two youngsters died tombstoning just four years ago.
A beach patrol boat had to be launched as the pair got into difficulties in the rough sea.
The boat’s two-man crew had to call for help from RNLI lifeboats themselves when their inshore craft began taking on water. It had been taken out of service because of the conditions but the crewman had decided to go out anyway as they could not just stand by and watch.
The youngsters, from Clacton and nearby Walton-On-The-Naze, got a furious dressing down. A local councillor called it “rank stupidity and moronic behaviour”.