Two Mackley employees have been labelled heroes after wading into the sea at Sheerness to save a teenage girl.
Gary Clarke and Bogdan Vehes are members of the Mackley team currently carrying out the Sheerness Beach Recycling Scheme, working as part of Team Van Oord and on behalf of the Environment Agency.
On 28 March, as reported by Kent Online, the pair noticed a girl in the water who was refusing pleas to return to the shore.
Bogdan Vehes, Mackley site engineer, said: “I noticed a couple in the water. It was obvious something was wrong.
“She was crying and her boyfriend was trying to stop her going deeper into the water.
“We called the police and then decided to help her out of the water ourselves.
“The tide was coming in and the water was very cold.”
Gary Clarke, Mackley’s site manager at Sheerness, said: “We noticed her boyfriend wasn’t having any luck getting her back in.
“Bogdan said he was going in to get her and took his hi-vis jacket off so I did the same and we both waded into the water.
“She was about 400 yards out and the water was up to her waist when we reached her. But she put up quite a struggle.”
The pair brought the girl back to the shore where they left her with friends while waiting for police and ambulance.
Eye-witness Chris Reed said: “The men were heroes and very brave.
“They just went in without any thought. They saved her. Sometimes they had to carry her because she was struggling.”
08 April 2019
