Firefighters and coastguard called in to help rescue injured seal stranded on Hull’s ‘Oss Wash’

Humberside Fire and Rescue Service teamed up with Humber Coastguard and British Divers Marine Life Rescue yesterday to help rescue an injured seal.

The seal had got itself stranded in the shipway near Hull’s Fruit Market, better known locally as the ‘Oss Wash’, on Monday evening (June 12). Teams from the three organisations worked together to help return the injured seal to the water.

After the rescue equipment had been assembled, the seal made its own way back into the Humber and swam away.

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On Twitter, Humberside Fire and Rescue Service posted: “Yesterday evening our crews from Hull Central and Immingham helped #HumberCoastguard and @BdmlrYorksLincs to rescue an injured seal from the shipway in Hull, also known as the Oss Wash. While we got the rescue equipment in place the seal moved into the Humber and swam away!”

This is the second time in a week that a seal has been seen around Hull’s docks, with one spotted outside The Deep last Tuesday. The seal spent the afternoon sprawled out on a slipway near the visitor attraction and barely moved an inch, leading many to believe that it was in trouble.

However, the seal later received a cheer when it began to move and re-entered the water. A spokesperson for The Deep said at the time that seals could sometimes be spotted enjoying “a sunbathe and chill”.

Clearly a popular spot for these marine mammals, last month a seal was , resting its head on a pillow of seaweed. Seal sightings are fairly rare so far up the Humber, though there are colonies at Donna Nook, near Grimsby, and further up the east coast at Ravenscar.

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