Tombstoner rushed to hospital after jumping off harbour at low tide

Air ambulance scrambled to scene at Charleston harbour in St Austell, Cornwall

(St Austell Coastguard)

A tombstoner was rushed to hospital with serious injuries after jumping off a harbour in Cornwall when the water wasn’t deep enough.

The victim was taken to hospital after plunging into the water while Charleston harbour in St Austell when the tide was out.

St Austell Coastguard, Cornwall Air Ambulance and ambulance crew all attended the incident, which took place on Saturday 8 July.

A spokesperson for St Austell Coastguard said: “The team were called to assist Cornwall Air Ambulance and South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust with a casualty Charlestown Harbour.

“The team worked alongside the ambulance staff to extract a person injured whilst tombstoning in the harbour.

“Once on a stretcher he was transported to hospital by the ambulance service,” they continued.

“Please ensure you check the depth of any water before you enter it, this incident happened due to the tide being out and depth of water was not deep enough to jump in.”

Tombstoning is a practice where someone jumps, from a height, into a body of water below.

People unfamiliar with tombstoning, or cliff jumping, can get hurt or even killed if they don’t know the conditions of the water they are jumping into.

In 2019 council and fire chiefs warned that youngsters were risking their lives by tombstoning.

The Local Government Association (LGA), the body that represents councils and fire and rescue authorities, urged young people to resist the temptation to tombstone during the warm weather.

It said there had been a recent spike in tombstoning from cliffs, harbour walls, piers and bridges – which has resulted in serious injuries – as a result of hotter temperatures last month.

A woman recently broke her legs after leaping into the sea and hitting submerged rocks in Dorset and a man was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after jumping into the sea in Torquay.