Warning after "madness" on the coast

11:00am Sunday 11th May 2008

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Coastguards across the south today condemned the ''stupidity'' and ''madness'' of those who recklessly enjoy the coast by engaging in tombstoning and taking to the sea while drunk.

At 3pm yesterday, a man aged in his 20s suffered a serious spinal injury when he jumped from a 25ft cliff.

The tombstoner was rescued from the water by the coastguard team.

He was strapped to a spinal board and taken to hospital by a rescue helicopter in a serious condition and as he slipped in and out of consciousness.

The drama happened at Sharrow Point in Devon.

A Coastguard spokesman said that members of the public reported that the victim, from Plymouth, had been drinking heavily before making the jump.

Dave Scullion, watch manager at Brixham Coastguard, said: ''This is one way to ruin not only a pleasant afternoon for yourself, but very possibly the rest of your life.

''Tombstoning is madness whichever way you look at it." In a separate incident, a young couple had to be rescued and treated by paramedics after they drunkenly took to the sea near Poole, in a dinghy without any oars in the early hours of today.

A female friend alerted the Coastguard at 3am after her friends, a 20-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman, from Verwood, set off in the white wooden dinghy from Studland beach.

In the darkness, the friend became scared for their safety after she lost sight of them.

Two lifeboats from Swanage launched a search for the pair who had been drinking heavily and had set up to sleep on the beach during the night, according to the Coastguard.

The pair were rescued at 4am after another group heard shouting coming from the sea and a lifeboat found the couple both in the water with the dinghy having sunk.

Both were treated by an ambulance called to the scene and the woman was taken to hospital slipping in and out of consciousness.

Bruce Lack, watch manager at Portland Coastguard said: ''Drink and stupidity played major parts in this incident with the two young people in serious danger of losing their lives as a result.

"From taking a boat with no oars to having no lifejackets or means of communication in the darkness in open sea is sheer madness fuelled by drink and bravado.

"We cannot stress enough how dangerous this kind of game can be, and that it is only at this time of year the sea is slightly warming, but not enough to put you beyond danger of severe hypothermia after prolonged immersion.

"The dulling of the senses by alcohol coupled with the cold shock of unexpectedly plunging into sea water can be a killer."