THREE youngsters who were trapped in a cave by the rising tide near Dunbar Harbour have thanked a lifeboat crew for saving their lives as they helped promote the RNLI’s Christmas appeal.

Rachel Pirie and Luke Foster, both 13, were exploring the town’s cliffs with Chloe McCaw, 12, at about noon on November 24 last year when the incident happened.

The rising water levels left the youngsters, who all live in Dunbar and attend Dunbar Grammar School, cut off with no food, no water and one working mobile phone that did not have any credit.

Police and Coastguard crews struggled to locate them.

Talking about their ordeal, Rachel said: “We know the area well and the tide was well out so we thought we were safe. We were sitting talking for about two hours.”

Luke added: “Chloe noticed the tide had come in. Suddenly we were cut off.”

They debated whether they should swim to shore or wait it out.

But with every minute that passed, the trio were getting colder and colder.

Rachel said: “I didn’t know how long we might be cut off for but I thought it could be night time before we got out.”

Half an hour later, their situation worsened, with Luke saying he was going to call the police.

Rachel’s dad Stuart is a former helm on the lifeboat crew so she was reluctant to call the emergency services.

She said: “I said: ‘Don’t call them.’ I was thinking my mum would kill me and even though my dad was on the crew I thought I’d get into trouble for calling them out.”

Eventually, her friends overruled her but, when phoning 999, the police struggled to locate them.

Luke said: “Over the phone, the operator told us the police were above us and calling but we couldn’t hear them over the noise of the waves.

“They then asked us to scream together on the count of three but they still couldn’t hear or see us.”

Shortly before 2.40pm that day, the Coastguard paged the Dunbar lifeboat crew, with their inshore lifeboat launched and on scene within minutes.

The crew’s helm Gaz Crowe had to navigate his way through treacherous submerged rocks and judge the crashing waves before making his approach.

Fellow crew members Becs Miller and Jamie Forrester went to check on the trio. They were unharmed but shivering and getting wet feet.

They were soon fitted with lifejackets and returned to shore, where an ambulance assessed them before they were reunited with their parents.

Rachel said: “We didn’t get into trouble. Our parents were just happy we were safe and told us to get warmed up.”

Luke said: “We were lucky I still had charge in my phone to call 999. Otherwise who knows what might have happened?”

Rachel’s dad Stuart added: “I know those caves well and if the water had risen any higher they might not have been seen.”

The incident has been highlighted as part of the RNLI’s Christmas appeal, which is titled The Perfect Storm. The trio have praised the RNLI and emergency services for their help in saving their life.

Luke said: “If it wasn’t for the lifeboat crew, we could be dead.”

Rachel added: “We were able to look forward to Christmas thanks to them coming to rescue us.”

The RNLI encourage everyone walking by the coast this winter to do so safely, wear appropriate clothing, have a charged mobile phone and check the weather and tides.

To donate to the appeal, visit rnli.org/ThePerfectStorm