A volunteer crew were paged by UK Coastguard at the weekend to proceed to Old Hartley Rocks to ascertain whether a casualty could be extracted by the inshore lifeboat.
Blyth RNLI’s D Class lifeboat was launched at 7.46pm on Saturday with 3 volunteer crew on board.
Arriving on scene at 8.09pm the volunteer crew with the assistance of the North East Ambulance Service Hazardous Area Response Team and Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade, carried the casualty across the rocks to the awaiting D Class.
North East Aviation & Maritime Photos & Reports – Photographer Mark MowbrayThe casualty was then safely positioned aboard the D Class and the inshore lifeboat made its way at slow speed to the awaiting NEAS ambulance which was on St Mary’s Island Causeway.
Once the casualty was on board the ambulance the volunteer crew were able to return to the lifeboat and then requested permission to return to the lifeboat station.
At 9.15pm the D Class arrived back at Blyth RNLI and was refuelled and made ready for service.
Adam Dixon, Volunteer Helm said:
“This personally for me was a shout to remember as it was my 6th wedding anniversary and I got married at St Mary’s Lighthouse so didn’t expect to be visiting it again under these circumstances. We worked well with the other agencies involved and were glad that we could ensure the casualty was extracted in the most comfortable manner possible given the location. I and the volunteer crew involved wish the casualty a speedy recovery.”