Claire and her mum Gaynor tried desperately to get her free.

A coastguard rescue unit finally pulled her free using specialist sledges and lances to ease her from the quicksand after she had sunk up to her waist.

Lauren said, "I had just been running along with Claire when all of a sudden I fell through the sand. I thought at first that I would just step out, but once my leg was in the sand I just couldn't budge it.

"I could feel myself getting pulled down and it was frightening at first, but I kept saying to myself 'It will be all right - I will get out'.

"I was relieved when the coastguards arrived and got me free.  I want to say thank you to them for saving my life."

Gaynor Sutton said: "We thought that we could get Lauren out of the quicksand but she just began sinking deeper.

"We started to panic and my husband called the police on his mobile phone."

Michael said: "We were so relieved to see the coastguard. They arrived so quickly. If it had been another 10 minutes this could have been a tragedy."

Liverpool Coastguard watch manager Ged Lynch said the youngster could count herself lucky.

He added: "The call came in that a young girl was trapped in the sand just before 3.25pm.

"The girl was trapped up to the top of her thighs. She was quite relaxed and calm.

"Our mud rescue team took along sledges and lances. The lances were used to pump water around the girl's body to liquify the sand around her.

"All the time we were working to get her out, the tide was quickly starting to come in.

"This young girl was very lucky indeed.

"Another 10 minutes or so and the tide may have covered her."