Emergency rescue as woman airlifted from Caldey Island after medical emergency

Both Tenby lifeboats were requested to launch just after 4.30pm on Friday, July 31, when the Coastguard received a call for assistance after a lady suffered a medical emergency whilst visiting Caldey Island.

With the all-weather lifeboat waiting for a Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust paramedic to arrive at station, the inshore lifeboat was first on the water and headed to Caldey to locate the casualty and provide initial casualty care.

The volunteer crew quickly located the woman on the beach at Priory Bay, and several crew members went ashore to assess her condition. Shortly afterwards, the all-weather lifeboat arrived on scene carrying the paramedic, along with several members of Tenby Coastguard Rescue Team, who were tasked with setting up a landing site for a Coastguard helicopter that was also enroute from Cardiff.

The paramedic, more lifeboat crew and the coastguard were conveyed ashore, with the paramedic taking over treatment, assisted by the lifeboat crew.

The helicopter arrived on scene shortly afterwards and landed on the beach.

The casualty was immobilised, placed onto a stretcher, and loaded into the aircraft, where the coastguard paramedic took over treatment during the flight to the hospital in Cardiff.

With the casualty on her way to hospital, the coastguard team and ambulance paramedic were transferred back aboard the lifeboat before it returned to Tenby.

The call-out came on the same day as International Lifeguard Appreciation Day, with the RNLI celebrating 25 years of its lifeguards keeping people safer on beaches across the UK and Channel Islands.

Having started in Cornwall in 2001, the service was rolled out in Wales in 2008 and since then, RNLI lifeguards in Wales have saved 315 lives, completed over 3,000 rescues and have carried out more than 6.5M preventative actions.