A 31-year-old Topsham man is safe after being rescued while sinking in coastal mud in Brunswick on Wednesday.

Police say Matthew Alexander got stuck in the mud off Wharton’s Point in the intertidal zone of Maquoit Bay and couldn’t get back to shore.

They say Alexander called 911 and said he had shot several ducks, and when walking across coastal mudflats to retrieve them, he suddenly sank.

Police say they used their department’s Marine Patrol airboat to reach Alexander. They say it took two officers to break the suction and get Alexander into the boat.  The ducks were retrieved later.

Alexander was taken to Mid Coast Hospital because of the amount of time he had been exposed to ocean water and was later released.

Brunswick Police are advising that coastal mudflats are unstable and can have “honey pots” that can’t be seen until too late.  They say honey pots act like quicksand, in which the more a person moves, the deeper they sink.