Man rescued from rocks off Co Antrim coast

A man was rescued from rocks off the East Antrim coast in Northern Ireland last night as waves threatened to engulf him.

A man was rescued from rocks off the East Antrim coast in Northern Ireland last night as waves threatened to engulf him.

His wife raised the alarm at Brown's Bay near Larne shortly after midnight.

Members of the Portmuck Coastguard Rescue Team were sent to rescue him.

Judith McNeice, of the Belfast Coastguard, said: "The man was in a semi-conscious stage and half in, half out the water.

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"The area where the incident occurred was quite remote and there was not a lot of great access to him.

"The rescue team, therefore, had to come to his aid by making off on foot across an open field and going onto the rocks.

"An ambulance team was also summoned and accompanied them to the casualty."

Members of the Larne Inshore Lifeboat team were also called to the area to take the injured man to a safer landing area along the bay. A small inflatable boat was used to take him to the lifeboat and he was ferried by ambulance to hospital. His condition is unknown today.

Belfast Coastguard Duty Watch manager John Hope said the rescue operation had been very difficult

"It was treacherous rocky terrain and the male casualty was in a semi-conscious, unknown medical state and in an area of rocks with an incoming tide," he said.

"His wife who raised the alarm assisted the operation by sending her son to direct the rescue services to the location. "My thanks go to the rescue services who all worked swiftly as a totally effective team to bring this chap to the safety of the waiting ambulance in quite difficult conditions."

It is understood the injured man was staying at a nearby caravan park.

PA