Second wave of attacks on life saving equipment

Vandals have struck for the second time in a week, destroying lifesaving aids near a Burry Port fishing lake and another at a wharf in Llanelli.

It is a tragedy in the making, warns Carmarthenshire County Council.

Mindless vandals have also destroyed a lifesaving station within the Millennium Coastal Park, on the wharf alongside the Charles Church housing development – home to many children who are new to the area, and where there is 26-feet of water on a spring tide.

There are nearly 100 lifesaving stations between Bynea and Burry Port, each equipped with throwable lifelines and torpedoes to help anyone who might get in to difficulty in water.

Carmarthenshire County Council has a duty of care to monitor the lifesaving aids and replace any found damaged or missing immediately.

Park manager Rory Dickinson said: “It is infuriating that lives are being put at risk by these mindless acts. Replacements and daily patrols do not come cheap. The aids are £90 each.”

Despite several appeals and stepped-up patrols by rangers and police, more than 40 B-lines and lifebelts have been stolen or spoiled about the county’s water features since April.

Seven have now been destroyed in Burry Port Woodlands over the last two weekends between Pwll and Burry Port. Ranger Andrew Jenkins found four of the B-lines shredded. The safety lines had been cut up and dangled in trees. Another was wrecked at Machynys.

The lifesaving equipment has gone missing or been destroyed in a wave of attacks at Loughor, Sandy Water Park, Llanstephan and Glanaman and Swiss Valley.

Executive Board Member for leisure services, Cllr Meryl Gravell, said: “We really need to stop this worrying trend of destructive and life threatening vandalism.

“We are so close to the start of the school summer holidays, and this is a tragedy in the making.

“I would appeal to anyone who sees anything suspicious at these rescue aid posts which are brightly coloured around our ponds, rivers and seaside attractions, to call the police immediately before someone dies.”