Fallen Climber at Durlston

The team was called out on Saturday afternoon to attend to a fallen climber to the West of Anvil Point Lighthouse.  Our colleagues at St Albans Coastguard were also called to provide back-up.

On arrival, the team were met by SW Ambulance paramedics, and once the exact location had been confirmed the team set up its rope rescue equipment.  Within minutes, a paramedic was fitted with a harness and rigged up to one or our rope rescue technicians ready for an 'assisted descent' to the casualty.  Swanage ILB stood by, but the injured casualty had fallen onto rocks some distance above the sea level, and its crew were unable to climb up to him.

As the Coastguard technician and paramedic were about to descend, Rescue Helicopter 175 arrived from Lee on Solent and hovered above, surveying and assessing the scene.

With the helicopter in close proximity, the team stepped back from the cliff edge for safety reasons, and its winchman/paramedic was lowered to the casualty instead.  Once the winchman was safely down, the helicopter landed on the cliff top awaiting further instruction.  Meanwhile the team again stood by to take down an ambulance paramedic to assist.

After some time, the winchman confirmed that the casualty was now in a stretcher and he called the helicopter in to lift them both away from the scene and transport the fallen climber to the helicopter base from where he was transferred by road to hospital.

That done, the lifeboat and ambulances stood down whilst the Coastguard teams waited until the remainder of the climbing party had made its way safely to the top.  Everyone was checked for welfare, and assistance was provided to the climber's buddy to reunite him with his friend in hospital.

The opening few weeks of 2019 have seen the busiest start to a year for a long time with 11 taskings to date, including three this week and rope rescue incidents in January and February.

Fallen Climber at the Western Mile Marker

The team have been out this afternoon attending to a climber near the Western Mile Marker who had fallen and landed awkwardly on rocks 4 metres below.

Along with our colleagues from St Albans, the team were just beginning to set up the rope rescue equipment when CG Helicopter 175 arrived and lowered its paramedic winchman to the casualty who had sustained an injury to his ankle.

The Wiltshire  Air Ambulance also attended along with a local ambulance crew but both were stood down when Rescue 175 winched up the injured man and flew him directly to Poole.