Teenager Rescued From Cliff After Major Coastguard Operation In Shanklin

A major rescue operation involving Coastguard teams, RNLI volunteers and a rescue helicopter has successfully brought a teenager to safety after he became stranded on a cliff between Shanklin and Ventnor on Thursday evening.

HM Coastguard was alerted shortly before 21:00 to reports of a male who had become cut off by the rising tide near Luccombe.

Coastguard Rescue Teams from Ventnor and Bembridge were sent to the scene alongside Bembridge RNLI's inshore lifeboat as efforts began to reach the casualty.

The teenager is understood to have attempted to climb the cliff after becoming cut off by the tide, before becoming stranded around 200 metres up the cliff face.

Attempts to lower a Coastguard cliff technician from residential gardens above proved unsuccessful, while access from the sea was also impossible.

As a result, Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 375 from Lee-on-Solent was called in to carry out the rescue.

Despite the challenging location, the helicopter crew successfully winched the teenager from the cliff and flew him to nearby Big Mead, where his mother had been waiting.

A Helicopter Landing Site was established by Coastguard Rescue Officers before the aircraft touched down.

The incident, which involved three Coastguard Rescue Teams, Bembridge RNLI and the Coastguard rescue helicopter, was brought to a successful conclusion shortly before midnight.

Thankfully, the teenager was uninjured and did not require medical treatment.