A YOUNG woman suffered serious injuries after being swept out to sea on the Yorkshire coast today.

A group of eight young men and women, believed to be in their late teens, had been enjoying a night out at the Spa in Bridlington.

They then went down to a slipway leading ino the sea, and two members of the group, a man and a woman, were swept away from the shore. At 3.40 am, a member of the public made a 999 call to Humber Coastguard, and the Bridlington Coastguard Rescue Team were at the scene within five minutes.

Humberside Ambulance Paramedics and Humberside police officers also attended.

The man and woman had been pulled of the sea by their friends by the time rescue crews arrived, but the woman was unconscious with serious head and back injuries.

She was resuscitated by a member of the Coastguard Rescue Team. After being given oxygen by crew from the Bridlington RNLI lifeboat, she was taken to hospital in Hull by Humberside Ambulance.

The other seven young people were taken to Bridlington Hospital with minor injuries, but were later released.

Keith Turnbull, of Bridlington Coastguard Rescue Team, said the group, believed to be a mixture of Bridlington residents and visitors to the town, were extremely drunk. He said: "They had drunk so much it was difficult to get much information out of them."

He said the young man and woman had only been in the sea for about five minutes.

The sea at Bridlington was reported to be heavy last night, with shore winds up to force seven.

The young woman was said to be in a serious, but comfortable, condition in hospital today.

Updated: 09:19 Saturday, November 08, 2003