Team effort at cliffs to rescue 80-year-old

An 80-year-old man was rescued from the bottom of the cliffs at Hartley Bay, near Seaton Sluice, yesterday.
An 80-year-old man is rescued from the bottom the the cliffs at Hartley Bay near Seaton Sluice.An 80-year-old man is rescued from the bottom the the cliffs at Hartley Bay near Seaton Sluice.
An 80-year-old man is rescued from the bottom the the cliffs at Hartley Bay near Seaton Sluice.

Personnel from Blyth RNLI, Blyth Coastguard Rescue Team and Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade (TVLB) were called into action just before 6pm when the man was reported missing.

The Blyth RNLI team located the casualty on the rocks at the base of the cliffs at the bay and, together with the TVLB personnel, they stabilised the man who was extremely cold and had a suspected hip fracture.

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Following treatment, the three teams worked together to transport stretchers to the base of the cliff and safely move the casualty on board one of the lifeboats.

The lifeboat then transported the casualty to the Blyth Lifeboat Station, where he was handed over to North East Ambulance Service paramedics.

A TVLB spokesman said: “This was a challenging situation that could have had a very different outcome had the casualty remained exposed to the elements for a longer period or had the tide risen higher yesterday evening.

“It took the combined effort of almost 30 volunteers from the Brigade, Coastguard and RNLI to safely extract the casualty from this location.

“This demonstrated great team working and the benefit of many long hours spent training by all the organisations involved.”