The Swanage and St Albans coastguard teams went to the rescue of a man in his 30s, who’d fallen from a rockface while climbing the cliffs at Dancing Ledge near Langton Matravers in Dorset.
The volunteer coastguards were taking part in a training exercise when they were diverted to the incident which happened just after 7 pm on Thursday 22nd May 2025.
The injured man was taken by stretcher to the air ambulance
Air ambulance landed on rock ledge
The Dorset and Somerset air ambulance also arrived at Dancing Ledge on the coastline, and both the Swanage lifeboats were at the scene within 10 minutes of launching.
Often the easiest way to get a casualty to safety from Dancing Ledge is by lifeboat, but once the air ambulance had landed it was clear the lifeboats wouldn’t be required to transport the injured climber.
The air ambulance paramedics treat the climber who was in a lot of pain
Both Swanage lifeboats launched but they were only needed in the end to help with radio communications
“The shore team had everything under control “
Swanage Lifeboat Station reported:
“The lifeboat volunteers liaised with the team ashore to see what assistance was required. The shore team had everything under control so the inshore lifeboat returned to station.
“The all weather lifeboat stayed on scene to provide a radio link between the coastguard units and Solent Coastguard as the VHF radio coverage at the site of the incident was poor.”
The paramedics from the air ambulance treated the climber for an open ankle fracture and then the coastguard teams assisted with getting the man onto a stretcher and into the helicopter.
The air ambulance flew to the Whitecliffe landing site in Poole, where it was met by the Poole coastguard team.
The injured man was then transferred by ambulance to Poole hospital for treatment.
The cliffs at Dancing Ledge are a popular place to climb but every year there are serious injuries
On this occasion, the easiest and quickest way to get the man to hospital was by the Dorset and Somerset air ambulance
Third incident in three weeks
This is the third serious climbing incident along the Purbeck coastline in three weeks.
On Sunday 27th April 2025 a climber fell from a cliff onto rocks near Anvil Point, injuring his ankle and had to be rescued by the Swanage lifeboat crew and taken to hospital by ambulance.
On Thursday 15th May 2025, a climber in his 50s sadly died after falling into the sea at Anvil Point. Despite attempts by the lifeboat crew and paramedics, they were unable to save him.
Further information
- More about Swanage coastguard
- More about Swanage RNLI
