Lifeboat rescuers called to missing child, and inflatable 'drifting out to sea'

The child, six-year-olds, was reported missing from the Promenade close to the Tower at around 2.25pm, and was found "safe and well by police" as crews arrived to help.

They were called out again at 3.20pm to "reports of a person on an inflatable drifting out to sea with someone else swimming after it," an RNLI spokesman said.

"One D class [lifeboat] launched but fortunately the casualties made it back to safety, and the lifeboat returned to the station," he added.

There have been repeated warnings about the use of inflatables in the sea off the Fylde coast.They have been involved in a number of emergencies in recent weeks, including a dramatic rescue by a beach patrol worker, and a lifeboat rescue of a girl whose dinghy was blown a mile out to sea.