Coastguard rescue after footbridge fall at St Loy

A quiet wooded lane in the far west of Cornwall turned into what one team called “the usual emergency service traffic jam” on Monday afternoon, after a walker went off a footbridge and could not get themselves out of the stream below.

What happened at St Loy

Lands End Coastguard Search & Rescue Team were tasked at 4.06pm on Monday 28 July to help South Western Ambulance reach a person who had fallen from the small footbridge at St Loy. The casualty had sustained a serious knee injury.

The reported location was not exact, which is a real problem in a spot like St Loy where the path threads through thick woodland and a boulder beach. Because of that, Penzance Coastguard Rescue Team were also sent in case the job turned into a technical rescue that needed two teams working together.

Out of the stream and into the stretcher

By the time the coastguard reached the casualty, paramedics had already made their assessment and bandaged the wound. The teams then helped move the injured walker out of the stream, up onto the bank and into a coastguard stretcher.

They carried the casualty back along the lane to the waiting ambulance, where paramedics took over for further treatment.

The photograph from the scene tells its own story about how tight the access is down there. A coastguard 4×4 and an NHS ambulance are nose to tail on a single-track lane barely wider than the vehicles, hemmed in by trees and hedgerow on both sides.

The Lands End team summed it up in their own words: “The usual emergency service traffic jam at St Loy.”

If you see someone in trouble

The coastguard’s standard reminder applies to anyone heading for the coast this summer. If you see someone in danger on the coast, call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.

📷Credit: Lands End Coastguard Search & Rescue Team