Lifeguards have issued a warning to swimmers at Sea Palling in north Norfolk after they were called out to rescue seven people over the weekend.

Lifeguards have issued a warning to swimmers at Sea Palling in north Norfolk after they were called out to rescue seven people over the weekend.

Lifeguards from the Royal National lifeboat Institution were called out to help the swimmers on Saturday afternoon who had all fell foul of a rip current while trying to swim cross a stretch of deep water towards a well known section of rocks, where the water is deep and there can be strong currents.

The rescues took place just after 5.30pm, when the RNLI lifeguards were preparing to close down their watch for the day, prompting them to remind beach users of the importance of heeding safety advice.

Stuart Thompson, deputy divisional lifeguard manager for the RNLI East division, said: 'Aside from being a little upset, all the casualties were fine and no further action or treatment was needed. That said, I was slightly concerned that these incidents happened close to the end of the day - an hour later and the RNLI lifeguards would not have been on duty, and this could have had a much less positive outcome.'