Douglas RNLI help recover unconscious male from Port Skillion Beach

Coastguards and paramedics had secured the casualty on a back board and stretcher on Port Skillion Beach just outside Douglas Harbour. Access to the beach is only via flights of steep steps at either end of the beach so the lifeboat was requested to evacuate the casualty from offshore.

Deputy Second Coxswain Tony Radcliffe took the all-weather lifeboat, Sir William Hillary, as close to the beach as the depth of water would allow then volunteer crew members Lavinia Washington and James Bettridge used the lifeboat’s daughter boat, an inflatable dinghy, to go ashore to recover the casualty to the lifeboat.

With the casualty safely transferred to the lifeboat, the dinghy and its crew also recovered, the lifeboat returned to Douglas, to the Liner Berth where the Coastguard and paramedics were waiting to transfer the casualty to an ambulance to be taken to hospital.

Lifeboat mechanic, Peter Cowin, said of the call out 'The efficient way the crew handled themselves this morning is evidence of the regular training given by the RNLI, and in particular Lavinia who recently passed her Casualty Care assessment and took a place in the dinghy.'

Notes to editors
Caption for attached photo: Port Skillion Beach from lifeboat Credit: RNLI/Peter Cowin


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For more information please contact Mike Howland, Douglas RNLI Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer on 07624496029, email [email protected] or contact Nuala McAloon RNLI Regional Media Officer Ireland on 00353876483547 or email [email protected] or Niamh Stephenson RNLI Regional Media Manager Ireland on 00353871254124 or [email protected]

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The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

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