A fun family outing turned into a mass emergency – with up to 1,000 people injured by razor fish hidden in the sand
The air ambulance is called to Paignton Beach after a razor-fish alert which injured over 1000 people
Nearly thirty years ago, one day at the beach was anything but idyllic. It’s remembered as ‘The Day the Sea Turned Red in Devon’. And that’s no overstatement.
It began as a complete mystery. One moment everything seemed perfectly normal on this bright Sunday, 10 August 1998. Within just a few hours, between 800 and 1,000 people sustained injuries, with witnesses describing the scenes on Paignton Beach as ‘like a scene from Jaws’.
Blood covered people everywhere and mass panic ensued. Emergency services rushed to the scene while police patrolled the seafront from Preston to Goodrington, instructing people to exit the water. Thirty individuals were so severely injured they required treatment at Torbay Hospital.
The beach had been filled with the sounds of laughter, waves and seagulls – but within moments, holidaymakers and residents began fleeing the shore screaming, blood pouring from their feet. Paignton Regatta was in full flow and the seafront was heaving – then the day transformed into something resembling a horror film.
The incident commenced around 1pm when initial casualties started arriving at the council’s first aid station on Paignton Green reporting they had sliced their feet on something sharp beneath the water.
As increasing numbers waded into the warm shallow waters during an unusually low tide, more casualties continued presenting with wounds.
Officers, beach wardens and emergency responders declared it a critical incident and ordered swimmers from the sea while multiple ambulances rushed to the seafront. The new Devon Air Ambulance touched down on the Green. Torbay Council announced a ‘total emergency’ while paramedics, coastguards, officers and first-aiders attended to the wounded. Gradually the widespread alarm subsided once the cause of the incident became apparent.
All casualties sustained lacerations to their feet after treading on razor fish shells concealed beneath the sand. The unusually low tide meant bathers were wading in zones not typically accessible. Within moments it became evident that the feeding razor fish had triggered a significant emergency.
Torbay’s then-MP Adrian Sanders, who was present on the beach with wife Alison when the alarm began, stated: “It was like a scene from Jaws as the police cleared the sea of people.”
The disorderly scenes dominated national news coverage. Brian Pearce, beach manager for Torbay Council at that time, informed the Independent newspaper that hundreds of swimmers had been pouring from the sea with cuts to their feet. He said: “The majority had small cuts, but a few had bad ones which were treated in hospital. I have never seen anything like it. I hope I do not see it again.”
Ambulances began descending on the scene, navigating their way through the crowds packed onto Paignton Green, while Torbay Hospital’s casualty department was put on high alert. Reports of further injuries soon flooded in from nearby Preston Beach, as well as neighbouring Broadsands and Hollicombe.
The wail of ambulance sirens rang out from every direction, cutting through the lively karaoke drifting from one of the seafront pubs, as the emergency services were rapidly pushed to their limits. Additional ambulances were dispatched to replenish stocks of dressings and saline fluid for cleaning wounds, while the Devon Air Ambulance helicopter touched down on the green – bringing a regatta rounders tournament to a standstill – to deliver fresh supplies.
Ambulance group station officer Chris Coles was amongst the first responders on the scene. He said: “We knew straight away we were dealing with multiple casualties.” Red Cross volunteers, who had been taking part in a display at Brixham, were called to assist, alongside colleagues from the St John Ambulance service.
At the heart of Paignton Green, where just moments earlier families had been relaxing with picnics and ice creams, police cordoned off an area that was swiftly transformed into a makeshift field hospital. Paramedics, having finished tending to one victim’s wounds, looked up and called out “Next!” Police chief Inspector Peter Dale evaluated the circumstances and instructed his officers to patrol the shoreline near the water’s edge, directing swimmers out of the sea and guiding them towards safer zones away from the razor fish beds.
Eleven year old Lana McAreavey from Princes Street in Paignton trod on one of the shells and required a paramedic to bandage a wound on her foot. She said “It does hurt a bit, and I can’t put my shoe on.”
Another holidaymaker said: “I was just walking through the shallow water when I felt something with my foot. It was so sharp that I didn’t realise I was cut until I looked down and saw the blood.”
Holidaymaker Sarah Richards from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, required three stitches for her injury. Sarah, 10, said: “I was walking with my mum and I trod on something. Then I started screaming.”
Ten year old Charlotte Mills, at the seaside with her father Tim Brown, received two stitches for her injured foot. Charlotte said: “I was in the water and something cut my foot. I thought it was a crab at first. Then I saw a massive cut on my foot and my friend gave me a piggyback up the beach.”
Torbay Hospital personnel spent over two hours attending to victims. Thirty individuals, predominantly youngsters, were taken for medical attention and a section of the hospital’s A&E department was designated specifically for them.
A hospital spokesman explained at the time: “I have never seen anything like it before and people who have lived here for years have never heard of this kind of thing happening.”
Torbay Council swiftly erected warning notices along the beaches. Hundreds of leaflets were distributed and loudspeaker announcements issued. Local retailers rapidly exhausted their stock of flip-flops and plastic ‘jelly’ shoes.