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Pier plunge man plucked from sea
A MAN was saved from drowning in the sea at Amble after he fell through a hole in the town’s North Pier.
The casualty plunged between 15ft and 20ft into the water and was left clinging onto the structure.
It sparked a full-scale rescue operation, with both Amble lifeboats scrambled, as well as the Amble Coastguard rescue team, and the search and rescue helicopter from RAF Boulmer.
The man, said to be a holiday-maker from Essex, suffered injuries to his lower body and arms and was flown to Wansbeck General Hospital.
Rodney Burge, lifeboat operations manager at Amble, said: “He was hanging on to the end of the pier up to his neck in water and he was in danger of being washed away.
“He was in pain and he had injured himself quite badly.
“If there had been any swell at all he wouldn’t have been able to hang on to the pier and it might have been a different story. He was extremely lucky.”
The incident happened at around 10.15am on Tuesday, when the Coastguard received a 999 call saying that a man had fallen off the pier.
Both the inshore lifeboat, the Mildred Holcroft, and the all-weather lifeboat, Four Boys, were launched and crew member John Duncan jumped into the water, helping to keep the man afloat, before other crewmen managed to drag him aboard the inshore craft.
The casualty was taken ashore to the lifeboat station and his injuries were assessed by lifeboat paramedic Trevor Nisbet, before being flown to hospital by the RAF helicopter, which had landed on the green outside the harbour offices.
Mr Burge said the lifeboat crews acted quickly.
He added: “At the end of the North Pier, there is a huge crack, about three or four feet wide, which has been there for as long as I can remember.
“We are led to believe that he was trying to get from one side of the crack to another and fell down the hole.”
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Weather for Northumberland
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 14 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
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