the-pier.co.uk

A man was saved from perishing in the ice cold waters of the sea beneath Eastbourne Pier last Tuesday evening. It is believed the man used the fishing platform at the end of Eastbourne Pier to get down to the sea.

The Eastbourne Coastguard along with Eastbourne’s two life boat crews where following an appeal from the Dover Coastguards which was called in at about 9pm on Tuesday 24th February 2009.

Lifeboat crew used searchlight to find the man who was found clinging to the steel supports that are beneath the platform of the pier. Two of the lifeboat crew had to risk their own safety and get into the freezing water in order to save the man and get him into the lifeboat.

The man was wrapped in a thermal blanket and received oxygen from the paramedic that was present on the all weather lifeboat that had also been launched; the man was then taken ashore to an ambulance that was waiting by to take him to Eastbourne District General Hospital where he was diagnosed with hypothermia.

This wasn’t the first call for the Eastbourne Coastguard team; they had been previously called out to recover the body of a man off Beachy Head after reports at approximately 6.45pm that a person has gone over the cliff about half a mile west of the Beachy Head landmark lighthouse. A body was recovered to the cliff top by the Eastbourne Coastguards and it is being investigated by the coroner’s office