Man fighting for life after jumping off 200-foot cliff in UK

A man is fighting for his life in hospital after leaping 200 feet from the Durdle Door landmark while another has spinal injuries – but idiots are still jumping into the sea from cliffs today.

The man, believed to be in his 20s, was pulled unconscious from the sea yesterday by two members of the public.

Witnesses said he was given CPR on the beach by an off-duty medic before being airlifted to the hospital.

A second man, aged about 25, suffered serious spinal injuries after jumping off cliffs into the sea. He was also airlifted to the hospital.

A third man, also in his early 20s, is thought to have suffered a broken leg after leaping off the rocky arch and was taken to hospital by land ambulance.

Dorset Council has now shut the public roads leading to Durdle Door – although the beach remains open and covidiots were pictured today risking their lives by leaping into the water.

The shocking incidents took place yesterday as hundreds descended on Durdle Door as temperatures hit 26 degrees Celsius (78 degrees Fahrenheit).

“Traumatic sight”

The men were not believed to have known each other.

The first took place at around 3:45 pm with the jumper knocked unconscious on impact.

Witness Ben Clark described how the man failed to resurface.

He said: “The lad did not come back to the surface, he just never came back up. He got CPR on the beach right in front of my eyes. Then a defibrillator was used.”

Another witness Hayden Bradley added: “For the amount of people cheering and encouraging others to do it, was disgusting.”

“Our hearts honestly skipped a beat after one of them failed to come back up from the water after jumping in.”

“It’s a traumatic sight to experience lots of people swimming in to try and save him, bringing him back to shore and witnessing him being unconscious for so long.”

“He had CPR and we watched a very young man fight for his life, for a long long time before we saw any sight of professional help.”

“I don’t think it’s something we’ll ever be able to forget.”

The second man managed to make it back to the beach before alerting the emergency services dealing with the first casualty to spinal injuries he suffered.

Both casualties were airlifted around 50 miles to the major trauma unit at Southampton General Hospital.

The third man managed to make his way back to the top of the cliffs before being treated by medics for a suspected broken leg.

He was taken in an ambulance to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester.

A ranger for the Lulworth Estate, which owns the area around Durdle Door, said: “The first casualty was unconscious on the seafloor for well over a minute before someone waded out and rescued him.”

“He was taken by air ambulance to Southampton General Hospital, as was the second guy who suffered spinal injuries.”

“The last victim was found on top of the cliffs having made his own way up there before collapsing.”

“He suffered torso injuries and a suspected broken leg and was taken to Dorset County Hospital by road.”

The scene was attended by a fleet of ambulances, the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and the coastguard helicopter, coastguards and an RNLI crew.

In order for the two air ambulances to land, the swarms of people on the beach were squeezed into two large groups – despite coronavirus social distancing rules.

A spokesman for the Lulworth Coastguard said: “We understand that a total of the individuals jumped from Durdle Door yesterday, encouraged by the crowds on the beach.”

“Two of them are now seriously injured. When we arrived a casualty was receiving help from the medical professionals already on scene. We began to create a landing site for the helicopter.”

“The beach had thousands of people on it and we thank the majority of people who complied with our shouting to clear a helicopter landing site, a very difficult challenge.”

“Very dangerous”

“We were then made aware of a second casualty two-thirds of the way around the beach who had also jumped from the door. Somehow he had managed stagger back to his friends before falling very unwell.”

“The paramedics deemed his injuries very serious and requested that like the first casualty, he be flown to the major trauma center in Southampton.”

“Our senior coastal operations officer had been maintaining communications on high ground when a third casualty made himself known to him.:

“He had also jumped from Durdle Door and had serious injuries to his torso. An ambulance crew dealt with his injuries and took him to Dorset County Hospital on Dorchester.”

“Upsetting scenes like we and many others witnessed illustrate how very dangerous tombstoning is.”

“We couldn’t discourage it enough.”

The coastguard added that police officers also had to deal with boozy fights between people after they were asked to leave the beach.

A small out of control fire from a BBQ also had to be put out.

Broadcaster Piers Morgan was one of those to hit out at the jumpers.

He said: “Fools throwing themselves off the cliffs into the sea (3 badly hurt), air ambulances, 100s of people packed together like sardines.

“Total insanity.”

The area is owned by the Lulworth Estate.

A spokesman for the Lulworth Rangers said they had no choice following the relaxation of the government’s lockdown advice.

They have this morning been at the site erecting signs warning people not to jump off the archway and reminding them to stay two meters (six feet) apart.

The spokesman added: “We can’t stop people from coming and if we don’t open the car parks they’ll just park elsewhere and block up the entire village.”

“I’ve been out this morning putting up signs reminding people to keep to social distancing and not to jump off the top of Durdle Door.”

Dorset Council announced this morning the roads around the beach will remain closed for the “foreseeable future”.

Assistant Chief Constable Mark Callaghan, of Dorset Police, said: “The images circulated from Durdle Door yesterday show that too many people made the decision to go the beach rather than going elsewhere.”

“The critical incident that occurred in this area demonstrates how important it is to act responsibly and not overcrowd our beaches.”

“If an emergency situation arises, we need to be able to clear an area to allow for the treatment of seriously injured people. As there were too many people on the beach, we had no option but to put people together into allocated areas to allow helicopters to land.”

“Yet again, we would remind the public that if an area looks too busy, please go home or elsewhere.”