A GROUP of fast-thinking fishermen have been hailed “heroes” for coming to the rescue of a woman in distress after she got her leg stuck in the harbour wall at a popular County Durham seaside town.
On Sunday morning (November 21), emergency teams working near to Seaham Harbour were alerted to a woman that had become trapped in rocks next to the Harbour wall – with the HM Coastguard, North East Ambulance Service, the air ambulance and fire crews all being dispatched to the scene.
Despite having a lot of skilled emergency workers at the incident, the remote location of the woman on the rocks proved difficult to reach for many of them.
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Until help could arrive, fishermen that had been in the Harbour at the time saw the dangerous events unfolding and worked to help the woman.
By putting a blanket around the woman and reassuring her about the situation, the fishermen waited until paramedics, firefighters, and the coastguard could get to the rocks to take over.
Fire crews used specialist working at height equipment to rescue the woman, who was quickly airlifted to hospital. Her injuries were not thought to be serious.
Following the incident, the group of fishermen and emergency services have been hailed as “lifesavers” by people on social media after County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue shared the post to social media earlier this week.
Responding to the post, one social media user wrote “Not all heroes wear capes,” while another commented “Fantastic work to all involved”.
A spokesperson for County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue added: “Firefighters from Seaham and Peterlee, along with HM Coastguard, North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, Great North Air Ambulance Service, HART Team and local fishermen all worked together yesterday morning to free a woman after her leg became trapped in the rocks at Seaham Harbour.
“Our control team were alerted at 11.50am on Sunday, November 21, by HM Coastguard. One crew from Seaham and a crew from Peterlee along with the boat crew were quickly dispatched.”
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