Man taken to hospital after river search
A man was taken to hospital after a search and rescue operation in the River Tees involving Redcar RNLI lifeboats, Cleveland Police, UK Coastguard rescue teams and North East Ambulance Service crews in the early hours of 7 June 2018.
Police initiated the search for the man after they became concerned for his wellbeing. The search area concentrated on the South Gare, near Redcar. UK Coastguard was contacted for assistance. The two RNLI lifeboats from Redcar were launched just after 2.15am and began a search along the seaward and river side of the South Gare breakwater.
The man was found by police officers on an area known as Bran Sands. He was extremely cold and drifting in and out of consciousness. He was given immediate medical by aid by paramedics and coastguard teams. Because of the difficult terrain in that area, it was decided to evacuate the man by stretcher aboard the Redcar lifeboat.
He was taken to the entrance to Tees Dock where he was transferred to a waiting ambulance and taken to the James Cook University Hospital for treatment.
Dave Cocks, Lifeboat Operations Manager at Redcar RNLI, said: ‘This was a complex search and rescue operation involving a large number of emergency service personnel.
‘Fortunately the man was found before his situation was made worse by the tide, which was about to start flowing in shortly after he was located.
‘His position on Bran Sands meant the rescue teams faced a difficult operation to carry him off the sands to the road, and then a long road journey to hospital. The alternative being to use the lifeboat to carry him along the river to Tees Dock where there’s a well-established evacuation point.’
Ends
Notes to editors:
• Attached images are video stills taken during the rescue. Credit RNLI/Redcar
• Redcar lifeboat station has been operating since 1802
• Redcar currently operates a B-class lifeboat named Leicester Challenge III, paid for by the people of Leicester, and an IB1-class lifeboat named Eileen May Loach-Thomas, paid from the legacy of the late Mr Nick Thomas of Shropshire
• For more news, information and images go to www.redcarlifeboat.org.uk. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/redcarrnli and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/RedcarRNLI
• Any images used should be credited RNLI/Redcar unless indicated
RNLI media contacts:
For more information please contact Dave Cocks, RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager on 07894 558 483. Alternatively, contact Clare Hopps, RNLI Press Officer, North 07824 518641 or at [email protected], or contact RNLI Public Relations on 01202 336789; [email protected].
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