Cliff leap sparks major rescue

CO-ORDINATED APPROACH?The 19-year-old injured woman is pictured being winched into the Shannon-based Coastguard helicopter from the RNLI Achill Lifeboat.?Pic: Tom Ramwell

Cliff leap sparks major rescue


Injured girl lucky to be alive after dramatic cave rescue

Neill O’Neill
neilloneill@mayonews.ie

A 19-year-old girl who sustained injuries whilst cliff jumping at Old Head near Louisburgh last week remains in Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital, where she is expected to undergo surgery for back injuries. She was due to go to college in the coming weeks, but it is now believed she will be unable to do so and may have to defer her place while she recovers.
The incident occurred on Wednesday last at an area popular for diving and jumping into the sea, at the end of the short coastal walk, approximately one kilometer from Old Head Strand. The injured party was with her sister and some friends when she sustained a spinal injury and got into trouble in a sea cave adjacent to ‘Maxwell’s Leap’.
Contrary to other reports, the group of friends, who are from outside Castlebar, were not jumping or cliff diving from the much higher and far more treacherous Maxwell’s Leap, but were at the nearby ‘cave’, where generations of local people have sought thrills and fun jumping into the sea from various heights, ranging from ten feet to 60 feet.
The incident has been recorded as the most serious dealt with in Mayo in 2013 by the 24 lifeguards employed for the summer, whose patrol season ended on Sunday last, September 1. Unless there is a marked increase in temperatures in the next few weeks, lifeguards will not patrol Mayo’s beaches again until next summer, with the exception, perhaps, of some of the more popular surf beaches.
However, it can be revealed that such is the popularity of the area for cliff jumping that the lifeguards on patrol last Wednesday had trained specifically for an incident at this location. Speaking to The Mayo News, Mayo’s Water Safety Officer, Michael Gavin, who has responsibility over the county’s lifeguards, described it as ‘an accident waiting to happen’.

Treacherous conditions
Shortly after 4pm on Wednesday, a major rescue operation was launched involving lifeguards from Old Head and Carrowniskey, the Gardaí, the Ambulance Service, Westport Coastguard Unit, Shannon-based Coastguard helicopter, RNLI Achill Lifeboat and the Mayo Mountain Rescue Team.
First on the scene was Westport lifeguard Conor Ryan, who had been part of a two-man patrol on Old Head that day. He was alerted to the incident by the casualty’s sister, who had raced back to the beach for assistance. While Ryan rushed to the scene where he found the injured woman on the rocks inside the cave, a 999 call alerted the emergency services to the unfolding situation. Stabilising her in situ and assessing the extent of her injuries, Ryan kept control of the situation until more help arrived.
Meanwhile, a supervisory lifeguard – Andrew Finn from Hollymount, who is also a qualified Emergency Medical Technician up to ambulance standard – had been informed of the incident. He rushed the several miles from his location on Carrowniskey Strand to provide a medical assessment and help his colleague.
As the emergency services arrived on the scene, each of them worked together to provide assistance in what were very testing and challenging conditions, owing to the physical nature of the isolated incident site, which is extremely difficult to access.
An ambulance crew was on standby at the top of the ledge but were unable to enter the cave. However, the Westport Coast Guard rigid inflatable boat (launched from the slipway at Old Head), along with the Achill inflatable, managed to enter the cave with the helicopter winchman to assist the lifeguards.
The casualty was assessed and reassured by the team, wrapped in a foil blanket and made as comfortable as possible before being secured to a spinal board and stretcher. She was then transferred from the cave via the Westport Coast Guard boat to the awaiting Achill RNLI Lifeboat, which was waiting a short distance away on the open sea.
Lifeboat crew members then helped prepare the casualty for an underway hi-line medivac, and she was winched up to the Coast Guard helicopter. The helicopter then transferred her to hospital. The entire operation was completed by 7pm.
A Coast Guard volunteer who was involved in the rescue described it as one of the most difficult they had ever encountered.

Dangers
Mayo County Council’s Water Safety Officer, Michael Gavin, told The Mayo News that while the incident was extremely serious, it would have been a lot worse had the tide been rising instead of falling, or if the casualty had been unable to get to the relative safety of the rocks that she was clambering to when Conor Ryan arrived.
“The lifeguards were able to quickly determine that they were dealing with a suspected spinal injury, and though they established that the casualty had sensation in her hands and toes, the incident had to be dealt with in a certain way from that point,” he said.
“We have simulated incidents such as this over the years and were very aware of this area and the dangers it posed. There are so many dangers and factors to be considered by anyone wishing to jump into the sea, such as depth of water, current and hidden dangers. This type of activity is never to be recommended, particularly in such an isolated area, away from the patrol area of lifeguards.”
Though an extremely dangerous area to access, and jump into the sea from, serious incidents are surprisingly rare at ‘the cliffs’ as they are commonly referred to.
A 29-year-old French national lost his life in the area in 2007, but he had been free-diving (underwater diving without breathing apparatus) to place a lobster pot, and not jumping into the sea from a height. An inquest found that he had placed too many weights around his body to help him submerge and could not release them when he began descending rapidly. His body was recovered by divers from The Westport Coast Guard Unit, in less than five meters of water.


LOCATION?This area beside Maxwell's Leap has been used by locals for diving for many years and Mayo County Council had identified the dangers posed by the activity.