A WOMAN had to be stretchered off the beach after falling on rocks.

The victim suffered possible head, back and hip injuries after falling on Ryhope Beach, near Sunderland, on Sunday morning.

Seaham and Sunderland Coastguard were called out shortly after 11.30am to help paramedics rescue the woman.

The coastguard team gave her first aid at the scene before the ambulance service Hazardous Area Response Team arrived to administer pain relief so she could be moved.

A spokesman for Seaham and Sunderland Coastguard said: “She was placed in a cliff stretcher and carried back up the path to the main road to the awaiting ambulance so she could be taken for further treatment”.