© Press Association

Peter Pugh, a 75 year old publishing company owner, recently got lost while on a walk with friends at Brancaster Beach. He was found alive and in pretty good health 20 hours later by a drone! Pugh, tried to take a shortcut home and went missing after he became separated from his group. He fell into some muddy marshes, got stuck and spent the night trapped.  On Sunday afternoon, a drone from the Norfolk Police department located Mr. Pugh and rescued him.

Felicity Pugh, his wife, stated that she was afraid that he may have drowned. She described his rescue as miraculous. Thankfully, her husband was the outdoorsy type and was able to drink some water from the creek as he waited for help to arrive. The rescue team, with the help of a drone and a coastguard rescue helicopter pulled him out of the creek. The search for Mr. Pugh included the Norfolk Lowland and Search Service, HM Coastguard and Hunstanton and Wells inshore lifeboat.

Mr. Pugh’s friends, family, and neighbors were all worried for him as it had started to rain heavily throughout the night. But, the search continued all night and into Sunday morning. The drone was being flown by Sergeant Leach at about 2.35pm on Sunday when he located Mr. Pugh in a very dense marshland close to Titchwell.

They pulled Mr. Pugh out from the muddy creek and performed first aid while they waited for the Coastguard helicopter to arrive. Mrs. Pugh was full of praise for the rescue team that found her husband alive. She stated that the services and technology used to save her husband were absolutely astonishing.