AN INCREASE in visitors to the Dorset seaside saw Coastguard callouts surge above figures recorded in the previous four years. Data obtained by the Daily Echo through a FOI request revealed that over the first 11 months of 2020, HM Coastguard recorded a 14 per cent incident increase compared to the whole of 2019 for the region from St Alban's Head near Swanage to Portland. With 454 incidents from January 1 to December 6, the Coastguard teams were called out to the region around nine times a week. A senior Coastguard official said the rise in coastal footfall this year had an impact on the number of incidents.