Farmer's Chance Discovery Reunites Lifeboat Crew with Missing Radio

In a remarkable turn of events, a lifeboat radio that went missing during a rescue operation 10 weeks ago has been reunited with its crew. The incident occurred on 2025-07-08, when a crew from the Hunstanton Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) carried out a rescue mission to save four people and 22 animals on the River Great Ouse in King's Lynn, nearly 30 miles away from Welney.

During the operation, the lifeboat's walkie-talkie radio had vanished. However, on 2025-09-23, farmer David Tough was clearing debris from a sluice in Welney, on the Norfolk-Cambridgeshire border, when he spotted the missing radio floating in the River Great Ouse. Recognizing the RNLI branding, Tough retrieved the device and found that it was still functioning.

Contacting the Hunstanton lifeboat station, Tough confirmed that the radio belonged to them. Paul Stewart, from the station, expressed his delight at the radio's recovery, stating that it was "great" to get the equipment back and that he was "thrilled it's still working." The lifeboat's operations manager, Mike Gould, admitted that they had simply assumed the radio had been washed away during the chaotic rescue operation.

On 2025-10-22, Tough returned the recovered radio to the RNLI volunteers, joking that it might need a "little bit of a clean." The crew's gratitude was evident, with Stewart thanking Tough for finding and returning the lost equipment.