Saw a rescue happening today

I decided to wander down to the pier on my lunch break. A whacking great Sea King helicopter came caning it really low around the north cliff, shot across the harbour and hovered just at the foot of the south cliff. I was a good couple of hundred yards away on the other side of the harbour but I saw them winch someone up before flying off again.

Turns out some poor chap fell right off the cliff, right from top to bottom. He's survived but is said to be in a bad way. I guess although by no stretch of the imagination is he lucky, it was fortunate for him that he landed more or less at the feet of a retired paramedic who was able to do first aid until he could be rescued.

http://www.whitbygazette.co.uk/news/local/pensioner-airlifted-after-cliff-fall-1-6168780

That cliff is very dodgy for anyone that doesn't know it. The Abbey is right on top of it and so there's a lot of foot traffic up there. From the paths it is not always obvious that you're so close to the edge because the grass is overgrown, obviously nobody is going to be keen to mow it up there. It doesn't help that the same cliff was in the news a few weeks back for a different reason, being that part of fell down and wiped out several houses, so when I was up there just the other day, there were hastily erected fences and closed sections of footpath as what was a good few feet from the edge is now the actual edge.

 

Hope the fella, is going to be OK. What has happened to the over zealous H&S, surely they have been Risk Assessing and monitoring the area..... hmmm, reactive as opposed to proactive, typical. Hope the family sues.

 

To be fair there is now a fence which is intended to prevent people getting to the edge, but people just hop over it for better photo opportunities.

 

Ah, that 'let's ignore it' syndrome again. I still wish the guy all the best but if he stepped over a fenced area, then he courted trouble, and some of my sympathy wanes.

 

I can't see anything in the news that says exactly how it happened. The coppers are appealing for witnesses, but I know there definitely was a fence there last week when I went up there. I do hope the chap makes it, and my gut feeling is that he wasn't careless or reckless, from the 'safe' side of the fence it does look like there's more land on the other side of the fence than there actually is.

 

Blimey, hope he's able to make a recovery.

I turned round to cast out once & saw a Mum with a baby on her back standing right on the edge of the cliff.

What she couldn't have known was it was badly undercut below her and she was standing on about 6 inches of turf with nothing underneath it.

After much shouting and hand gestures I got her to move back

 

Is that near "Dracula Graveyard"? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-20970716

 

The very same, although I've never heard of it referred to as Dracula Graveyard before.

 

Dont agree with fencing in such places, common sense should prevail.

Fencing in a natural location is totally out of place, they have fencing at Dover above the docks, and all along. It totally ruins the place.

 

Hopefully he'll make a recovery. It was an accident, or a suicide attempt? I dealt with a few jobs in my previous employment where people would go to Beachy Head... :(

 

Bram Stoker's

 

Yep. I know about Brahm Stoker and Dracula and the connections with Whitby and in particular that cliff and the abbey. They have the annual 'Drac Fest' in Whitby because of it. I know people that attend religiously every year, but I've still never heard of anyone refer to it as Dracula Graveyard. I think the BBC just made that up.

 

That would be so unlike them!...

Goth weekend is twice a year now, also in April. Talk about over-monetising!!

 

Its in the news again today. It seems the poor old chap didn't make it. They got him to hospital but they couldn't save him unfortunately.

 

:(