Surf Life Saving's James Lea said it was lucky they had been trialling an evening patrol at nearby Bethells Beach this year. Photo: Supplied / Surf Life Saving
Surf Life Saving says a group of rock fishers are lucky to be alive after a risky rescue operation at Bethells Beach on Sunday.
A group of three fishermen were on the rocks at O'Neills Bay at around 7.30pm on Sunday when one of them fell into the choppy waters.
"[He] hit his head hard and went unconscious. So now he's floating in the water unconscious with no life jacket on," Surf Life Saving Northern Region operations manager James Lea said.
"Luckily, his head went under and his shoulders went under but his feet were still propped up. The ocean pushed him up against the rocks and luckily the other two rock fishers were able to grab him and pull him up to safety."
The ledge the men were fishing from is known at 'the Blowhole,' Lea said.
"It's a little bit protected some days but this day the surf was really heavy and really surging with the incoming tide."
One of the men was able to make it to Bethells Beach where he asked lifeguards for help. Lucky again, because Surf Life Saving happened to be trialling an evening patrol.
"This year we've been running a trial with the volunteers at Bethells around an evening observational patrol. It's called the 'BEST,' Bethells Evening Summer Team. It was really fortunate to have the team out there last night," Lea said.
When the rescue team made it back to O'Neills Bay, they realised the rescue would be tricky.
"When [the rescuers] did get there, the seas were really, really heavy. I'm talking swells well over two metres, and they really had to stop and assess whether it was safe to get in close," he said.
"They managed to get one of the IRBs (inflatable rescue boats) in close enough with a rescue swimmer, and that swimmer jumped in and clambered up the rocks to assess the patient."
The injured fisher was still breathing, but Lea said he had a laceration to his head and a damaged leg from the fall.
The team of rescue swimmers were eventually able to help the two remaining fishermen onto the rescue boats and back to shore.
"It was touch and go. Firstly if the two rock fishers who rescued the [other] one didn't perform that, we would have had a fatality last night," Lea said.
"None of the rock fishers were wearing life jackets, so it was just out of luck that the first person was pushed back up the rocks by the surf. Very lucky."
He said the near death experience proved how dangerous rock fishing could be.
"[Rock fishing] has increased over the years, the fishing is very good. But there's only so many days that it's safe to go fishing on the west coast, it's such a powerful coastline," he said.
"I think rock fishers really need to take a step back and think about their own safety, we're seeing a lot of underestimating the environment and really overestimating their ability."
He said life jackets were essential, though they could only do so much.
"You still might not make it on the west coast with a life jacket on, because of the impact up against the rocks, but at least you'll stay afloat."
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