Injured Colyton man rescued from cliffs at Seaton
Coastguard rescue helicopter. Picture MCA - Credit: Archant
A man reported missing from his home in Colyton was found injured on cliffs late last night (Monday August 10).
A major land, sea and air search was launched following mounting concerns for the wellbeing of Adrian Carpenter.
Beer Coastguard Rescue Unit joined colleagues from Lyme Regis in the hunt after the police helicopter located the man’s car at an area just off the coast path at Haven Cliff.
Lyme lifeboat was requested to do an initial search from the sea between The river Axe and Charton Bay.
An item was located by one of the search teams, but to get it a full rope rescue set up had to be rigged.
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The item was recovered and was confirmed by the police that it belonged to the missing man.
A coastguard rope technician was lowered further down the cliff to get to a point where he could see over a ledge.
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He soon confirmed that the man was about 60 feet below him and was still alive.
The technician was lowered down to the location in deep undergrowth.
A Beer Coastguard spokesman said: “Due to the casualty’s injuries it was clear we could not get him onto a stretcher to haul him up the cliff, so our helicopter from St Athan in Wales was requested along with the ambulance service’s hazardous area response team (HART).
“Once the helicopter was on scene they lowered their paramedic to the location, and secured him into a harness and winched him out of the undergrowth and up to the clifftop and waiting HART team for further treatment, before the casualty was carried to the helicopter and flown to hospital.”
A police spokesman said today the Mr Carpenter remains in Derriford Hospital where his injuries were described as possibly life-changing but not thought to be life threatening.
This was a multi agency incident involving 22 Coastguard officers, the Coastguard helicopter, Lyme lifeboat, police search managers, police, a search dog, Police helicopter and the HART team.
All units stood down and we returned to station at 3.50am.
