Stranded French tourists call English pub for rescue

Two Frenchmen who became stranded on a Cornish cliff with their dog have been rescued after calling a pub for help. The trio were cut off by the tide in Trebarwith Strand, but did not know who to call for assistance, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.

The men decided to call a directory inquiry service and ask for the number of a pub they had passed earlier in the day - The Port William, near Tintagel.

Pub owner Sue Sleight, 56, said the men were unable to pinpoint their exact location. "We picked up the phone and the signal wasn't very good, and obviously they were foreign," she said.



"I thought he was saying the road was closed and he wanted to know how to get to the pub, because he kept saying he was stuck. But I soon realised he was on the beach. We went out but couldn't see anything, and we thought we just had to phone the coastguard.

"To be honest, if we hadn't phoned the coastguard, they could have been there all night. The coastguard were just brilliant."

The RNLI lifeboat from Port Isaac decided to search the cliffs near Trebarwith Strand and found the men, aged 21 and 35, along with their dog. A Royal Navy helicopter from Culdrose lifted them from the cliffs. All were unharmed.