Lyme Regis RNLI had its first call-out of 2024 on Sunday (January 21) after a woman suffered a suspected broken ankle on a beach.
The crew had just completed a routine training exercise when they were contacted by HM Coastguard in the early afternoon and asked to attend the beach under Black Ven between Lyme Regis and Charmouth.
They launched the inshore lifeboat Spirit of Loch Fyne at 1:43pm and arrived at the scene 10 minutes later.
They located the casualty but due to poor weather conditions, with a strong south westerly wind and heavy surf, they were unable to approach the beach or put any crew ashore. HM Coastguard rescue teams from Lyme Regis and West Bay were also tasked to the incident and managed to reach the injured woman by walking along the beach from Charmouth. Because of her injury and the poor weather conditions, it was decided that safest means of rescue would be by Coastguard helicopter.
Spirit of Loch Fyne was released from service at 4:07 pm and returned to Lyme Regis 15 minutes later.
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