As well as the Red Bay lifeboat crew, the operation involved the Irish Coast Guard helicopter, the Coastguard cliff rescue team and members of the specialist fire and rescue unit from Belfast all working together to free the casualty, who was in a dangerous and difficult to reach location on the cliff face.
On arrival at the scene two lifeboat volunteers climbed up the rocks to administer oxygen to the trapped man.The casualty was pinned under rocks and specialist equipment was needed to free him. The Irish Coast Guard helicopter brought members of the specialist fire and rescue unit from Belfast including a doctor. Due to the remote location of the incident a major operation was put in place to lift the rock and hoist a stretcher with the seriously injured man up to the helicopter.The location was so remote that the rescue team had to undertake a dangerous walk to the base of the cliffs and return by Red Bay lifeboat to land.
Paddy McLaughlin, Helm of Red Bay RNLI lifeboat said, "It was a very difficult rescue operation.The location of the incident meant that everyone had to work together as radio communication was poor and the terrain was very dangerous. We were all conscious of the urgency of the situation and our focus was to get the casualty and the rescue personnel out of there safely and quickly. onditions early on were calm but as the night progressed they worsened significantly."
The man was taken to the Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast.
Report recevied from the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency:
MAN PINNED BY ROCKS AT FAIR HEAD
At half past 2 this afternoon (Saturday) Belfast Coastguard received a 999 call from a member of the public who could hear cries for help at the bottom of the cliffs at Fair Head in Northern Ireland.
Belfast Coastguard sent Ballycastle Coastguard Rescue Team to the scene, who are trained in cliff rescue, as well as requesting that the Irish Coast Guard Helicopter and the Red Bay Inshore Lifeboat also attend.
When the Coastguard team arrived on scene they found a male climber at the base of the 600ft cliff who had become pinned by several large boulders that had fallen on him when he was about to begin climbing. Because of the nature of incident and the weight of the rocks the team were unable to free him, and so the helicopter was sent to Belfast to pick up a local Fire and Rescue team who have the specialist training and equipment needed to attempt to free the man. They also collected a Doctor who specialises in crush injuries to give advice on safely manoeuvring the casualty. Once the specialist Fire and Rescue team and Doctor arrived on scene the team assessed the casualty and sent the helicopter to retrieve more equipment. After five hours of work by all teams on scene the man was finally freed at half past 7 this evening and it was assessed that the safest way to transfer the casualty into the helicopter was to place him on a stretcher and for the Coastguard Rescue Team to take him up the cliff to the waiting helicopter. He is now being transferred to the Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast.
Brett Cunningham, Coastal Safety Manager for Scotland and Northern Ireland, said:
“In this incident Police, Fire and Ambulance services, as well the Coastguard Rescue Team, lifeboat crew, Irish Coast Guard helicopter crew, the specialist Fire and Rescue crew and specialist Doctor on scene worked extremely hard for five hours to safely extricate the man from the cliffs and prevent further injury occurring. This was a true multi agency rescue with all resources working together, making difficult decisions, in hazardous conditions."
