Man ‘a finger’s grip from certain death’ rescued from cliff
A walker was rescued in a “close call” this week after he became stranded and was left “clinging on” to a cliff face in Scotland.
The man, who has not been named, got stuck around 10 metres from the top of Dickmont’s Den, at the Seaton Cliffs Nature Reserve, in Arbroath, and was found by rescue teams in a “precarious position – and slipping,” according to a statement from HMS Coastguard.
Luckily, the walker’s companion was able to call 999 and report the incident.
David Kerr, the senior coastal operations officer, said: “It was a close call – he was struggling to hold on, and it was a long way to fall. The teams knew they had to get to him and quickly. It was a tough rope rescue in darkness on a steep and crumbling cliff.”
Teams from Arbroath, Dundee and Stonehaven were sent to the scene, alongside the RNLI Arbroath lifeboats, where they reported being in a “race against time to rescue” the man.
While a helicopter was also deployed from Inverness, it was quickly decided that such a rescue operation would be too big of a risk in case the aircraft’s downdraft dislodged the man from his position on the cliff. Instead, experts opted to carry out a technical rope rescue.
“It goes to show how quickly a nice winter walk can turn sour, one decision and suddenly the man found himself gripping on for life,” Mr Kerr said in a statement.
Commending the walkers for doing all they could to stay safe, he said: “They were well prepared with the right gear and fully charged mobile phones – they did the right thing in calling for help.”
However, he said even this did not stop the “cold and tired” man being found in a “desperate situation, a finger’s grip away from plunging to almost certain death”.
“It really can happen that easily and to anyone,” Mr Kerr added, before reminding prospective walkers of the UK’s “continually eroding” cliff faces.
“The cliffs in [the Seaton] area are particularly loose and it can be very easy to end up in a difficult situation,” he said, insisting people should stay “well back” and be aware that their surroundings “can become unsteady at any time”.
