Rescue at Towan Beach Newquay

Air Ambulance in Newquay

It was yesterday, the 4th August 2010 at around 4.15pm. Yes it is summer again, that time of the year when everyone should be enjoying themselves in Newquay. And the vast majority are doing precisely that.

So all the tourists are here and sumer season is in full swing with the Boardmasters, a major surfing festival underway once again.

On the afternoon in question, I was in the process of preparing a dessert for my evening meal when I heard the helicopter flying low overhead. Looking out the window I saw it hover and then land on Towan Beach.

Oh dear, I thought. Here we go.

The chopper sat for a short while on Towan Beach, and by now it had gathered a lot of sightseers as it were. People all around it were sitting and standing on the beach, most with their surfboards. Others were standin on the high cliffs above, watching the scene below.

After a while the helicopter took off again, did a kind of loop and landed again in a small cove right next to Towan.

I grabbed my camera which has a record mode. The zoom isn't too great so I could not see what was happening too well. I didn't have time to get my camcorder, which would have shown the scene with a lot more clarity. It's always fascinating to see the efficiency with which these guys work - how they co-ordinate their rescues with the life guards and often the Lifeboats too if the emergency occurs out at sea. Happily the latter was not necessary in this case.

After five minutes or so the chopper took off most likely on it's way to Trelisk, Cornwall's main hospital in Truro.

I don't think anybody had fallen from a cliff, well I sincerely hope not. We had bad injuries and even deaths from cliff falls at least six time last year in the summer season.

But I'm thinking in this case it was someone who had got into trouble in the water, maybe someone on a surfboard who had fallen off and was and knocked out by it. It does happen.

It all highlights how dangerous the sea and the high cliffs that surround Cornwall are. They make the county amazingly beautiful but can be a hazard for tourists, and sometimes for residents too.

It is a must that visitors read a guide book or a leaflet advising where it is safe to bathe and where it is not. Then they will leave for home with happy memories.