A BEACH walk turned into a traumatic experience for a family in East Lothian.

Leanne Cochrane and her husband Thomas were walking on Aberlady Bay at low tide when their daughter got "pulled in by sinking sands".

The family wanted to see the wrecks of the two midget submarines which are buried in the sand and, although quite far out from the coast road, can be viewed at low tide.

Leanne said on Facebook that they were on their return journey on the vast sands when the "horrific experience" occurred.

Her daughter was, she said, “knees deep" in wet sand when her husband "tried to get her out".

"He got pulled in as well but thank God they both got out," she said. "There are no warning signs out there.”

The response across the social media site was immediate with one person writing: “Glad you are all fine - hope everyone shares this. It must have been terrifying.”

With another saying: “Aberlady Bay is dangerous: the sand banks constantly move and the mud sucks you under. Not advisable to walk on it in the winter/spring time.”

Someone else added: “An easy mistake for anyone to make; I agree an information board would be good.”

Scott Ironside, the countryside ranger at nearby Seton Sands Holiday Park, told the Courier that the most important rule in such situations was not to panic.

"The more you move your legs, the more you get sucked in," he said.

" Keep arms up and outward. Remove backpacks etc. Spread body weight evenly and lie on your chest and raise your legs slowly up to ground level then crawl out. If a person nearby has a rope or a branch, that’s better. There is a Bear Grylls video about this on YouTube which has good advice, especially for those who are stuck alone.”

The midget submarines at Aberlady Bay are XT-Craft, training versions of the X-Craft that attacked the German battleship Tirpitz in 1943.

In 1946, two of these vessels were towed to Aberlady Bay and moored to a large concrete block, then used as target practice and gun tests by RAF aircraft.