Emergency services help casualty to safety after River Wear alert

A person was brought back to safety from the banks of the River Wear after a team effort by emergency services.

By The Newsroom

Published 7th Apr 2018, 14:01 BST- 1 min read

Updated 7th Apr 2018, 14:06 BST

A photo taken by Sunderland Coastguard Rescue Team after the incident under the Wearmouth Bridge.

Northumbria Police, Sunderland Coastguard Rescue Team and Sunderland's RNLI crew were called to an area of the river bank under the Wearmouth Bridge in Sunderland.

A spokesman for the Coastguard said: "We were paged earlier this evening to assist Northumbria Police with a casualty threatening to enter the water on the riverbank below the Wearmouth bridge.

The Sunderland Coastguard Rescue Team was joined by police and the RNLI on the call out.

"Upon arrival we located the casualty along with paramedics who began negotiations whilst we prepared our water rescue equipment.

"We stood by for some time until the casualty agreed to come away from the water.

"At this point Coastguard Officers in water rescue life jackets assisted to bring the casualty back to safety and then passed them over to the North East Ambulance Service for further care."

They added a reminder that people should call 999 and ask for the Coastguard in any coastal emergency.

A spokesman for the RNLI said the team's D Class boat was launched following the report.

They added: "Volunteers launched to support emergency services who were responding to an incident near Wearmouth Bridge.

"Thankfully after about half an hour the incident was successfully resolved by shore based emergency services.

"Shortly after midnight our volunteers were released to return to station."

The incident happened at 11.20pm last night.