Young boy rescued by Jersey RNLI crew after falling from slipway

An RNLI crew which rescued a young boy who had fallen off a slipway in Jersey while they were preparing for a routine exercise say they were "well-placed" to get him the medical treatment he needed. The St Catherine's lifeboat crew were preparing for an exercise today (25 August) when they realised a boy under the age of ten had fallen off the slipway at Little St Catherine's and had injured his legs. RNLI volunteers, who maintain ongoing casualty care qualifications, stepped in to assess the boy with a local doctor who also happened to be there at the time.

The team ruled out any spinal injury but were concerned by the boy's reluctance to move so they called an ambulance. While the ambulance was on its way, the lifeboat volunteers monitored the boy and kept him as comfortable as possible. The boy was then left in the care of paramedics but the extent of his injuries are not yet known. Elwyn Dop, from the St Catherine's RNLI crew, said: "Given the proximity to the lifeboat station and the fact that we were launching, our casualty-care trained crew were able to be on scene in very short order.Our volunteer crew maintain casualty care qualifications and we refresh those skills continuously, so we were well-placed to ensure that the casualty in this situation was properly assessed and looked after while we waited for paramedic support. We are grateful to those members of the public who assisted, too."

Today's incident was the second time over the Bank Holiday weekend that people in Jersey had needed rescuing from or near the water. On Saturday (24 August), Jersey Fire and Rescue confirmed they had been called to help two swimmers stranded on rocks near Belcroute Bay.

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