A woman has been airlifted to hospital by a Coastguard helicopter after injuring her leg and arm in a fall on Berrow beach this week.
A team of Burnham Coastguards was called to the beach at 4.45pm on Tuesday evening (December 15th) after the 76-year-old woman suffered a fall.
A Burnham Coastguard spokesman says: “At first, she was in a fair amount of pain but still alert and able to sit up. Two people who were passing by had kindly stopped to help and had called for an ambulance.”
“As they waited, the lady, who was on the cold ground in the biting wind, was becoming colder and one of them gave her their coat to help keep her warm also the pain was getting worse so they once again called 999 to give an update on the lady’s condition to the ambulance service.”
“At this point, it was upgraded and Burnham Coastguards were tasked to evacuate her from the beach as she was nowhere near any vehicular access roads. Our tasking came through and thankfully the passers-by had downloaded the What Three Words app, giving us an exact pinpoint of their location so we were able to plan our options.”
“The tide was fast approaching and, being an 11m metre tide, it was very high and our faller’s location meant that they would be covered by water if we hadn’t acted fast.”
“As we entered the beach at the jetty we could see it was going to be a close call so our Plan A was to arrive quickly, scoop her up and take her to a place of safety. However, on arrival, it was clear that the lady was immobile and there was no way of putting her in the vehicle.”
The Coastguard Officer in Charge was in close communication with the Coastguard Operations Centre and after his assessment, a helicopter was called in to extract the injured lady.
Coastguard Helicopter Rescue 187 was on scene within minutes, landing on the beach. Their onboard paramedics gave pain relief and the Coastguards then helped safely placed the patient onto a stretcher and carry her onto the helicopter.
“Once she was loaded onto the helicopter it was up and gone, whisking her to hospital.”
He added: “Well done to all involved, this was a time-critical incident not only because of the tide but also due to the lady being so cold and deteriorating quickly.”
“We hope she recovers quickly and is soon back enjoying the beach once again.”
