Severely Injured Climber Rescued From Welsh Cliffside in Hours-Long Mission

A severely injured climber who fell 40 feet down a cliff face near Holyhead, UK, has recounted his rescue by Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) crews.

Footage released by the RNLI Holyhead Lifeboat Station shows the rescue on June 1.

The RNLI said it was called around 7 pm local time after the partner of Jon, the injured climber, scaled over 400 feet of cliffside in search of mobile signal.

Recounting the ordeal, Jon said: “As I fell, I could see my other pieces of protection and thought to myself ‘the rope will go tight in a second, the gear is good’ before quickly realising the rope will in fact, not go tight. I’m about to hit the ground, very hard.”

Due to the difficulty of the location the rescue took several hours, lasting into the early hours of June 2, when Jon was carried first onto one boat, then another, before being winched onto a helicopter and taken to hospital.

“7-8 hours is a long time to be on a cliff face, so he and the crew got to know each other pretty well!” RNLI said. Credit: RNLI Holyhead Lifeboat Station via Storyful

Video transcript

Real.

So this is John John, 29.

Ok, prior to this.

Ok, ok, taking a fall from where the is just your head straight down in the position he's in now, right?

Yeah.

Not long.

Gone on to oxygen.

OK, it's improved.

His breathing was a four out of 10.

He has got signs of internal bleeding.

I'll set the pen up for you now, John.

All right, mate.

It's the last one I can give you, buddy.

Ok?

He's just getting very cold.

Done it.

Nice one.

That'll help him a lot.

Uh, Hollyhead Life Boat.

This is, uh, hollyhead X Ray.

Yeah, the, uh the casualties, uh, breathing rate has risen too shallow.

He's, uh, cold and shivering.

And we're trying to, uh, keep the heat in him.

Uh, and he's becoming quite drowsy and pale with the clammy skin.

However,