Teen plans to pay back rescuers

A teenager who was rescued after taking a boat plans to walk around Britain to raise money for charity.

Seb Green, 17, and a friend were found after a massive land and air search when they got stranded in mud in near Weymouth Harbour, in May 2004.

"I'm immensely ashamed of what I did. Ever since then I have wanted to pay some of the money back," he said.

The money raised will go to the Starlight Children's Foundation and Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance.

I decided to do a sponsored walk to raise money to go back to the community for the money I wasted Seb Green

He plans to begin his 5,821-mile (9,367km) trek on 30 November - his 18th birthday.

The teenager, who is studying for a public services BTEC National Diploma at Weymouth College, said: "The coastguard rescue costs a lot of money so I decided to do a sponsored walk to raise money to go back to the community for the money I wasted."

Seb, from Weymouth, also wanted to raise public awareness of sea safety following the recent death of 14-year-old Kyle Moore, from nearby Portland.

"Following the tragic death of a teenager from the local area, I decided to raise boat safety awareness as I felt extremely grateful and lucky because it could have been either my friend or I that lost their life."

Screams for help

In May 2004, the pair became stranded in mud in nearby Fleet Lagoon after taking a boat from Weymouth Harbour.

Both teenagers began shouting for help and Seb got out of the boat to walk to safety but became stuck up to his waist in mud.

A passer-by heard their screams and called for help.

The coastguard helicopter, Dorset Police helicopter, two coastguard land based teams and two RNLI lifeboats were launched to rescue the pair.