A WOMAN walking her dog on the beach had to be rescued after she became stuck knee deep in mud.

She sunk into the mud in her wellies near the pier on Burnham-on-Sea Beach after trying to get her dog.

On-duty RNLI lifeguards spotted the woman and alerted the Burnham Coastguard Rescue Team's passing patrol vehicle.

The BARB Search and Rescue hovercraft, which was was practicing, was also put on standby just in case.

A coastguard rescue team post on Facebook said: "As the lady wasn't too far off the hard standing, two of our mud rescue technicians kitted up and pulled two stretchers out to her location and after a brief chat to assess any medical problems that could be involved, they set about digging her feet out with their hands.

"In no time at all her feet were free, but due to the time she was in there they took precautions and kept her sat down to allow the blood flow to gently return to her legs to avoid toxins that build up from being trapped flooding the body.

"Once she was up, the two techs used the stretchers as a walkway moving one in front of the other to get her back to the hard standing to a very nice loud cheer and applause from the large crowds that had gathered to watch.

"The lady was a little embarrassed but she was well within the red flags that were placed by the lifeguards and the mud bar was particularly soft on this occasion. Wrong place at the wrong time.

"But once again this shows how much our beach changes after each tide."

They added: "As always it was a good call, the lady was well and truly stuck and the amount of time she had been there it was important to monitor her for a short while until we moved her,

"Thanks to all the other teams who were there if we needed them, always good to have amazing teams around us should we need.

"If you have an emergency at the beach, dial 999 and ask for the coastguards."