14th August 2018. Mablethorpe Coastguard and Mablethorpe RNLI were involved in rescuing an object seen out at sea - which turned out to be a 2ft helium Teletubby.

The incident happened after the Mablethorpe Coastguard was paged by Humber Coastguard to an object spotted out at sea by the watchkeepers at National Coastwatch Institution  station at Mablethorpe. A Mablethorpe Coastguard said: “On arrival at their station, we located the item and assisted Mablethorpe RNLI Lifeboat to its position. On retrieval the object was found to be a 2ft helium balloon in the shape of Laa-Laa from Teletubbies. Thankfully no other Teletubbies were lost at sea and Laa-Laa was safely recovered by the lifeboat. As always Thanks to the team at NCI Mablethorpe  and Mablethorpe RNLI for their work.” The spokesman added that the teams were praised by members of the public for leaping into action, particularly for removing the item from the sea which could have affected wildlife.

A spokesperson from the National Coastwatch Institution said "An object was spotted floating out at sea wearing what appeared to be high visibility clothing. As the object was too far away to identify, we notified HM Coastguard that there was possibly someone out there in distress. In this instance it turned out to be a balloon but we can't take any chances"