Family of seven rescued after becoming stranded in the water of Maces Bay

CTV Atlantic: Tide strands N.B. family Residents in Maces Bay are warning others to beware of the tides after a family of 7 became stranded. CTV’s Mary Cranston reports.

Fishermen are urging others to beware of the tides after a family of seven became stranded over the weekend in the water of New Brunswick's Maces Bay.

The four children and three adults were isolated at least a kilometre from shore.

“They were standing on dry ground and all of sudden there's water all around them,” says fisherman Chuck Breen. “They didn't know what to do."

Breen was one of six men who rescued the group. He says the family was looking for periwinkles when the tide quickly surrounded them.

Wayne Janes also jumped into action when he saw them. He picked up the woman and children, then another boat rescued the two men.

"First instinct is you try and go save them, so we dropped the four-wheeler and hooked it on the boat and took the boat down on the beach,” Janes says.

Both rescuers say this isn't the first time people have been stuck in high tide. They feel there should be warning signs along the nearby stretch of road.

“Down here on these rocks is not a good place for people that don't know the tides," says Breen.

“I don't know who could swim and who couldn't,” says Janes. “It probably would have been about a quarter of mile before they could get to shore, so it wouldn't been quite a swim.”

Janes says the tide is often quick to come in and people walking along the shoals aren't paying enough attention to the water.

“That's one thing you got to do is just be looking up once in a while to see if the tide is coming," he says.

The fishermen say they’re thankful they got there fast, as things could have ended much worse.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Mary Cranston.