‘Trying not to panic’: Demons Bluff rescue revealed

A couple has opened up about the terrifying moment they found themselves trapped during rising tides during a romantic sunrise walk at Anglesea.

A Winchelsea man and his partner were pulled to safety after being trapped by rising water levels during a romantic sunrise walk at Anglesea.

Dave Brennan, 37 and Georgia Morgan, 31 were returning from their walk when they became trapped at Demons Bluff on Friday.

Ms Morgan, who is from Melbourne but regularly visits the area, said she didn’t realise how quickly the tide was rising.

“We were about a 20 minute walk from where we left at the river mouth when we started to get a bit wet,” she said.

“We sheltered in a cove and thought we could wait it out, but we soon realised it was getting a lot worse.

“The only number we could call was triple-0 and we were lucky enough to get through, we had a couple calls drop out.”

Emergency services - including Life Saving Victoria, Anglesea CFA, the SES, police and paramedics - were called to the scene just before midday.

Cave

“We were trying not to panic but you do start to think about times where things have gone wrong and when people have been washed out to sea or injured,” Ms Morgan said.

“We were standing there shivering and drenched so it felt pretty serious.”

Anglesea Surf Life Saving Club life member Matthew Solly and CFA captain Noel Foster saved the pair using an inflatable rescue boat.

“We didn’t know what to expect, all we knew was that two people were trapped around the corner of Demon’s Bluff,” Mr Solly said.

“Once we got around the corner with the high tide we saw they were wedged up in a cavity in the cliff.”

Mr Foster said he had never been in an inflatable rescue boat, or worn a wetsuit, before the incident.

The pair were able to manoeuvre the boat to a safe spot before retrieving the couple from the water.

Mr Solly said the area had been experiencing very high tides.

“They just got into a situation they couldn’t walk back out of. We all make mistakes,” he said.

Anglesea Sergeant John Digby said the police air wing was involved in the rescue operation.

“The tide was still coming in, they could have been in big trouble in another 30-60 minutes,” he said.

While the pair did not require any medical attention, Sergeant Digby said the area had been closed due to safety concerns.

“Because of the unstable cliffs it is unsafe to do rescues from land, so then we are only left with options via the sea or air and if it is rough sea conditions than that could be ruled out as well,” he said.

In September, the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority announced it would permanently close a 2-kilomtre stretch of beach along Demons Bluff due to significant safety concerns.

Permanent signage has been installed to mark an exclusion zone. The area had been temporarily closed since March 2021.

‘Could’ve been in trouble’: Duo rescued from cave

A Winchelsea man and his partner have been pulled to safety after becoming trapped in an Anglesea Cave on Friday.

The couple, who were returning from a sunrise walk became trapped at Demons Bluff after misjudging the rapidly rising tide.

A number of emergency service agencies including, Life Saving Victoria, Anglesea CFA, Torquay’s SES unit, Victoria police and Ambulance Victoria received a call at around 11:50am, indicating that two people were in trouble at Demons Bluff.

Anglesea CFA captain Noel Foster and Anglesea Surf Life Saving life member Matthew Solly performed the rescue using an inflatable boat, which they manoeuvred as close to the couple as possible before pulling them out of the water.

Anglesea Station Manager Sergeant John Digby said Victoria Police’s Air Wing were involved in the rescue operation.

“The tide was still coming in, they could have been in big trouble in another 30-60 minutes,” he said.

“They where on some sort of rock ledge and waves were washing over it.”

The pair which included a 37-year-old male and a 31-year-old female were not injured and did not require treatment.

Two trapped in Demons Bluff cave

Emergency services are desperately trying to free two people who are believed to be trapped in a cave at Demons Bluff in Anglesea.

Life Saving Victoria are leading the rescue with other agencies including Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV), Country Fire Authority (CFA), Ambulance Victoria, Victoria Police as well as Torquay’s SES unit assisting on the scene.

A spokeswoman from Ambulance Victoria said they received a call at about 11:50am informing them of the incident taking place in Anglesea.

She said the rescue was still ongoing, with no patients at this stage.

On a Facebook post from Crime Watch Victoria, it said, “two people are trapped in a cave that is filling with rising water at Demons Bluff Beach.”

A 2-kilometre section of Demons Bluff has been permanently closed to the public since September, after the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority (The Authority) deemed the area as being too much of a risk due to erosion.

Prior to The Authority’s decision, the area had been temporarily closed since March 2021.

More to come.

Originally published as ‘Trying not to panic’: Demons Bluff rescue revealed