Chalkwell beach children rescued from mudflats by woman

Charli Best, 35, was relaxing on Chalkwell Beach when she spotted three children screaming for help and stuck at a rocky area of the mudflats. 

Without hesitation, she raced out to try and save them - carrying a young girl and boy back to safety despite severely cutting her feet in the process and “almost losing her toe”. 

The third child was assisted by others on the beach while the young girl Charli carried to safety was taken to hospital for treatment. 

Bandaged - Charli Best (Image: Charli Best)

Charlie severely cut her foot in the process and will be on crutches for the next week as she recovers. 

The Southend resident fears if she “waited any longer the children would have been in serious danger”. 

She said: “I feel proud of taking the initiative, I have been stuck in the mud before as a child and it is terrifying. If it had been half an hour later, you just don’t know what would have happened.

“I didn’t think a lot, I ran and I just did what I like to think anyone would have, I just thought this could get worse.”

Hero - Charli Best (Image: Charli Best)

Suffering a long, inch wide and half inch deep cut to her foot, Charli was also told that “she was lucky” not to lose her little toe after running barefoot on the rocks.

“My foot was glued back together afterwards - it had been sliced to pieces and I expect to be on crutches for a week,” Charli added. 

“The children were stuck because the oyster flats were so sharp, one of the boys had fallen a couple times and had a big cut on his shoulder.”

A spokesman for East of England Ambulance Service said: “One ambulance and one paramedic car was sent to Chalkwell Esplanade yesterday afternoon after Coastguard and Fire and Rescue colleagues were involved in the rescue of three children stranded on rocks.

“Two children were assessed and discharged by the coastguard and a third child with a medical emergency was transported to Southend Hospital by our ambulance.”