HM Coastguard’s Senior Coastal Operations Officer Rob Farr has issued the reminder to the public ahead of the Easter holidays, following Monday’s incident in South Cornwall.
A 22-year-old man was climbing with three friends at Trewavas Head when disaster struck and he fell up to eight metres on to a granite slab overlooking the sea, requiring evacuation by helicopter.
Rob said: “It’s a well-known climbing spot in the area and he appeared to have all the right safety kit; but he still managed to fall some distance to the bottom and was in trouble.
“It’s why we are here, the ambulance’s critical care staff and our coastguard rescue teams worked together very well, as we always do, to stabilise him before we extracted him to the helicopter and hospital.
“With the Easter holidays around the corner, it is a timely reminder of what HM Coastguard does – we are here to help anyone that finds themselves in trouble at our coasts; from rock climbing, to getting cut off by the tide to rescuing people caught in rip currents. Call us and we’ll respond.”
Penzance and Porthleven Coastguard Rescue Teams rushed to the young man’s aid, alongside a critical care team from the South Western Ambulance Service, Penlee RNLI lifeboat and the Coastguard helicopter from Newquay.
It was quickly apparent that the climber, who had ropes and safety equipment for the activity, was suffering potentially serious injuries including chest and hip injuries and was in a hard-to-access area. In the pitch black, teams knew that time was of the essence.
They needed the help of the Penlee RNLI lifeboat to shine a spotlight at the cliff face while the Coastguard helicopter winched the casualty to safety before transporting him to hospital.
Rob said: “The teams were brilliant at handling a very difficult incident, the man had suffered some potentially serious injuries. We couldn’t get to him by road and where he had fallen was difficult to access, especially in the dark.
“Emergency service partners worked together so well to ensure that we got him to hospital as soon as possible, for the necessary onward medical help. The critical care staff spent a good hour or so just to stabilise him before we could even think about moving him.
“We were very grateful to our RNLI partners who shone their spotlight on the lifeboat so that we could see and then teams helped the helicopter on arrival to secure him on a stretcher and have him lifted to safety.”
