SIGHTSEERS with cameras were criticised for hampering an airborne dusk rescue near Doniford on Tuesday (September 6).
As darkness fell, a teenager and her father, cut off by high tide, were winched to safety by helicopter from rocks between Helwell Bay and Doniford.
But the helicopter crew's hazardous job was made more difficult when sightseers started to take photographs of the operation.
Simon Bale, from Watchet Coastguard search team, which was also scrambled to the scene, said: "During the rescue the helicopter crew was not helped by members of the public who had arrived at the scene and were taking photographs using flash. This ruins the pilot's night vision and is extremely dangerous."
Full story in this week's West Somerset edition of the County Gazette.
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