RNLI fundraisers swim into trouble

Eighty swimmers taking part in a race to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution had to be rescued after they were swept out to sea.

Most of the 93 competitors were caught in strong currents during the two-and-a-half-mile event in Joss Bay at Broadstairs, Kent, yesterday morning.

One swimmer, Mike Jenning, from Gravesend, said that only three people finished the race. "I didn't realise the seriousness of it until I got back to shore," he said. They were still bringing them back at least an hour after I'd finished.

"I did two of the three laps and realised that there was no way I was going back out there for that third lap, [it was] just un-swimmable in one direction."