Gower gig paused to request lifeboat crew after woman stung by fish

A band headlining a music festival had to pause the show because a lifeboat crew were needed to help a woman stung by a weever fish.

Sax player Lawrie Grove, who is Horton and Port Eynon lifeboat station's chief, told frontman Jon Tarrant there was an emergency after he was paged.

The helmsman stopped singing and addressed the Horton Hullabaloo crowd.

"You're about to see a real-life lifeboat shout in action," the 50-year-old told the audience.

Mr Tarrant asked the crew to put up their hands and told them they were needed.

With a cheering audience echoing in their ears, Will Metcalfe, Jordon Francis, Rachel Hurford and Laurence Marwood ran from Saturday's festival, which was held in Gower, to the nearby station.

Once there, they launched for Slade Beach, also known as The Sands.

"The back of the stage runs down to where the lifeboat station is," father-of-three Mr Tarrant said.

When the crew arrived at the scene they found a holidaymaker writhing around in pain on the sand.

The woman, from Windsor, had no idea she had stepped on a weever fish, but the crew recognised the symptoms.

RNLI volunteer Brin Hurford said: "It's extremely painful. You don't see them because they are in the sand.

"She had been paddling or going for a swim in the shallows. It was just one of those things."

Mr Hurford said she had "no idea" she had been stung - just that she was in pain.

"She was picked up by the crew and taken to the lifeboat station where they treated her foot."

She then returned to Oxwich, where she was camping with her partner.

Until she was stung the woman, originally from Poland, had been enjoying her trip to Wales.

"Everyone seems to know each other and is so friendly, its like being back home," she said.

Weever fish are about 15cm (5.9in) long with venomous spines on the dorsal fin.

They lie camouflaged in shallow water so people often do not see them until they have stepped on them.

The pain is said to be excruciating, and can last up to two weeks.

Despite their small size, weevers are thought to be Britain's most dangerous marine species.

Once stepped on, the fish injects a fast-acting poison into the wound.

It's at its most intense for the first two hours when the affected limb can swell up.

If untreated it will continue feeling numb until the following day and some pain may last for up to two weeks.

If the spine actually breaks off in the foot it will cause discomfort until it is removed.