Jarrod Turian, left, got stuck on cliffs near Petit Bot recently and Andy Walford of the cliff rescue team hacked through thick undergrowth to reach him. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0579498)
REACHING a teenager stuck on cliffs at Petit Bot was the hardest such job the Ambulance and Rescue Service has done for at least 13 years.
Jarrod Turian, 17, had been walking the cliffs with his parents, James and Sharon, brothers, Levi, 14, and Sion, 11, and sister, Carmel, 5. ‘It was a nice day, so at about 3pm I thought I’d have a walk over the rocks,’ said Mr Turian, a first-year A-level student at Elizabeth College.
High tide, at 9.1 metres, was at 6.42pm. Mr Turian began climbing over rocks on the St Martin’s side of the bay in an effort to reach some steps he had been told were around the corner.
‘I knew the tide was coming up, but I didn’t realise it would come up so quickly,’ he said.
Turning back was soon out of the question, so the teenager began to climb.
‘I got about halfway up and my left leg slipped, so I grabbed some ivy. I must have been shaking and the other leg slipped too, so I held onto a tree and tried to calm down.’
He reached a ledge and when he found he could not go sideways, he put a car tyre he had found over his arm and began thrashing through the thick brambles.
‘The next thing I knew was when my dad phoned and said I was being rescued.
‘I was thinking that I’m nearly there now, but then it was a feeling of embarrassment and of huge relief.’
Mr Turian is keen on outdoor pursuits and has often climbed with ropes, but he does not usually free climb.
Cliff principal Andy Walford and his rescue team of four arrived at the path above the casualty. Andy Adam abseiled down the gentle slope and tried to work his way around a rocky area to reach Mr Turian. About 100ft down, he was stopped by thick brambles and ended up below and to the side of the teenager.
‘Abseiling gives us the option of taking the casualty up or down,’ said Mr Walford.
‘We made a decision to take the direct route by hacking our way down with a machete. The only other option would have been to winch him off with a helicopter.’
The casualty was not in danger and Mr Walford said the emphasis was fully on safety as opposed to speed.
He said the brambles in some places were about 10ft high and he had had to cut a tunnel. At one point, he fell into a hole.
‘I’ve been on the cliff rescue team for 13 years now and it was the most difficult rescue I’ve done,’ said Mr Walford. ‘Had it not been for the brambles, Jarrod would have been able to get out on his own.’
Mr Turian said he was extremely grateful to the team for rescuing him.
‘It’s a very overpowering thing to know that people are there to help,’ he said. ‘I’d never really thought about it before because I’d never been in that position.’
Article posted on 15th May, 2008 - 2.29pm
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