Tenby’s RNLI all-weather lifeboat was requested to launch at 10.30 am on Sunday after one of the monks fell ill on Caldey Island.

The Haydn Miller was on the water within six minutes, with the volunteer crew joined by two paramedics.

Once at Caldey, the paramedics went ashore and up to the village to assess the casualty, with a crew member going along to provide communications with the lifeboat.

The Haydn Miller then returned to the harbour to collect members of Tenby’s Coastguard Rescue Team in case a helicopter landing site needed to be set-up.

Shortly after the lifeboat arrived back at Caldey, the on scene paramedics decided that a helicopter was the best way to evacuate the casualty, so the coastguard team were put ashore to go up to the lighthouse to prepare the island’s helicopter landing site.

Once stabilised, the casualty was brought up to the lighthouse in a stretcher, where Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 187 from St. Athan landed just after 12 pm. The patient was handed into the care of the helicopter’s paramedic and was then flown to Morriston Hospital in Swansea.

The lifeboat then left Caldey, returning to station just after 1 pm.