Staithes Coastguard Rescue Team called to help rescue crashed paraglider pilot

HART paramedics and Coastguard Rescue Officers move the casualty before before attaching him to the rope rescue system and hauling him up the cliff.

Staithes Coastguard Rescue team (CRT) assisted with the rescue of a paraglider pilot who crashed on the cliffs west of Saltburn this weekend.

The incident occurred on Saturday, May 7. Coastguard Rescue Officers (CROs) from Staithes located the casualty and administered first aid while CROs from Staithes and Redcar Coastguard Rescue Team set up the rope system needed to lower a cliff technician to the casualty.

The CROs were joined by paramedics from North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (NEAS) and the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) who stabilised the casualty. He was strapped into a cliff rescue stretcher and hauled to the clifftop, guided by the cliff technician.

The casualty was passed to NEAS paramedics for transport to hospital.

A spokesman for Staithes Coastguard said: ‘This was a long and demanding rescue, and congratulations to emergency service workers from all the services who worked together to get this man to safety and treatment.

"He probably spent longer than he should have on the cliff as we weren’t called immediately; Coastguards are the experts at cliff rescue and casualty care, and if you see anyone in danger or injured on the cliffs or beach and you call 999, the Coastguards should be the first service you ask for.’

As that job finished Staithes CRT were called out again to reports of a person in difficulty in the sea at Redcar, but both vehicles were stood down by Humber MRCC en route.