Cliff-top rescue
A woman was taken to hospital after falling from cliffs at Seaham.
Fire crews, coastguard, the North East Ambulance Service and the Great North Air Ambulance Service were all called to the scene around 11.30am yesterday.
Sunderland Coastguard’s Neil Mearns said the rescue has been helped by the fact that the tide was out.
“There was a lady who fell from the cliffs just south of Ryhope Dene,” he said. “We don’t know the circumstances of how she came to fall.”
Emergency workers had been able to get down to the beach from the car park at Seaham Hall.
“The lady was treated at the scene, stabilised and then was brought back along the beach in an all-terrain vehicle that the North East Ambulance Service’s Hazardous Area Response Team has, known as Polaris,” said Neil.
Although the extent of her injuries was not clear, she had been conscious: “She was transported along the beach and brought back up into the car park at Seaham Hall, where she was placed in an ambulance,” he said.
“At the same time, the Great North Air Ambulance had arrived. Although it did not land on the beach, the doctor was involved in the initial treatment.
“Fortunately the tide was out at the time, and we were able to evacuate her from the beach without having to resort to a cliff rope rescue or a helicopter.
A North East Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: “We were called at 11.38pm to the beach at Seaham. We sent two specialist paramedics, two rapid response vehicles, three Hazardous Area Response Teams and a double crew ambulance.
“One patient was taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary and our crews started to around 1pm.”