MAN EXTRACTED FROM RAVINE BY COASTGUARDS FOLLOWING TOMBSTONING INCIDENT
A young man has been extracted from a ravine by coastguards and taken to hospital by air ambulance after a tombstoning jump went wrong.
Aberdeen Coastguard were contacted by the police at 6.00 pm this evening to request assistance for a man in his early twenties who they suspected had jumped off of a bridge into a ravine on the River Glascarnoch near Garve, 20 miles north-west of Inverness and broken both his ankles. Ambulance paramedics had already made an initial assessment of the scene and, due to the terrain, requested coastguard assistance.
Aberdeen Coastguard scrambled the coastguard helicopter form Stornoway and requested coastguard teams from Inverness, Portmahomack and Dornoch to attend the scene. When the coastguards arrived, they set up their rope equipment and scaled down the side of the ravine to the man. He was put on a spinal board on a special flat based dinghy and floated down the river, then transferred onto the awaiting air ambulance and airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
Aberdeen Coastguard Watch Manager, Kevin Brown says:
“Jumping from bridges, piers, cliffs or other structures into water can be very dangerous. You do not know what lurks under the surface and the depth of tidal waters changes considerably. If you want to jump from height into water, you may wish to join a coasteering trip with a reputable adventure centre or go to a swimming pool where there are diving boards. In the past six years there have been 16 deaths and 50 serious injuries caused by tombstoning.”
Aberdeen Coastguard were contacted by the police at 6.00 pm this evening to request assistance for a man in his early twenties who they suspected had jumped off of a bridge into a ravine on the River Glascarnoch near Garve, 20 miles north-west of Inverness and broken both his ankles. Ambulance paramedics had already made an initial assessment of the scene and, due to the terrain, requested coastguard assistance.
Aberdeen Coastguard scrambled the coastguard helicopter form Stornoway and requested coastguard teams from Inverness, Portmahomack and Dornoch to attend the scene. When the coastguards arrived, they set up their rope equipment and scaled down the side of the ravine to the man. He was put on a spinal board on a special flat based dinghy and floated down the river, then transferred onto the awaiting air ambulance and airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.
Aberdeen Coastguard Watch Manager, Kevin Brown says:
“Jumping from bridges, piers, cliffs or other structures into water can be very dangerous. You do not know what lurks under the surface and the depth of tidal waters changes considerably. If you want to jump from height into water, you may wish to join a coasteering trip with a reputable adventure centre or go to a swimming pool where there are diving boards. In the past six years there have been 16 deaths and 50 serious injuries caused by tombstoning.”
