Fire crews, a Sea King helicopter and Humber Rescue boats descended on a South Ferriby mud flat this week, in a dramatic rescue demonstration.

The training exercise – which aimed to get various local rescue agencies working together – drew crowds on the edge of the Humber as fire crews executed a number of rescue techniques.

"It's a joint-working multi-agency approach," said Neil Fowler, risk reduction crew manager for North Lincolnshire.

"We have a series of training exercises to do with Humber Rescue, and these techniques prepare us for if we are called out to a mud rescue.

"Fortunately, it doesn't happen a lot, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be prepared and the less we do it, the more we have to train to make sure we are up to standard."

Humber Rescue, the independent charity responsible for the provision of fast- response rescues on the estuary, attended with two boats and a number of volunteers.

Dave Bertholini, training officer and coxon, said that while mud may not immediately seem a danger, it was something that had to be trained for.

"We've probably had three or four mud rescues this year," he said.

"One of the most common incidents is when someone's boat has run aground and they've tried to walk out, or an animal or a fisherman might have gone too far out and got stuck. It's dangerous because, obviously, if you're stuck and the tide is coming in, but also people may have had a fall or jumped from one of the bridges and be stuck with broken bones, internal bleeding or hypothermia.

"When we pull someone out we have to do it slowly, because they can go into shock because the blood flows back into their legs."

Mr Bertholini, who has been with Humber Rescue for five years, said the type of mud made a big difference to the dangers.

"We did a rescue last year at Hessle Haven where two lads had nicked a boat and run it aground and there was no consistency to the mud – it was like blancmange," he said.

"The police were after them and if they had tried to jump out and escape then they'd have drowned in the mud."

Firefighters employed a number of techniques during the training, with a "stranded" man helped to safety using inflatable rafts and a Sea King helicopter employed to winch another volunteer out of the water.

"We're all trained differently and have different risk assessments and so on and the idea is that we get together and all understand the best way to tackle this," said Mr Bertholini.

"We obviously respond from the water and fire respond from the land and we understand the need to communicate with each other."