First responders rescue woman in airlift from tallest church tower
As churches across the U.K. celebrated the crowning of King Charles III, one woman faced a life-threatening emergency and had to be rescued from the top of a church tower in Cornwall.
First responders worked hours to save the woman who suffered a cardiac arrest while climbing the tallest church tower in the country on Sunday.
Probus Parish Church had opened the tower to visitors in celebration of King Charles III’s crowning during celebrations for the first coronation service hosted by Westminster Abbey in 70 years. The woman had fallen ill while climbing the church tower, requiring assistance from multiple rescue teams, including police, firefighters, cliff rescue teams and a coast guard helicopter. The coordinated rescue effort took four hours, according to the BBC.
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Eleanor McCartney, the church warden’s wife, said in a statement to The Christian Post on Tuesday that this is the first significant incident she can recall occurring during a tower opening and the first time an individual had to be evacuated from the roof.
“We tend to open the tower annually for visitors to go up — via an old spiral staircase as a fundraising event — and this year opened as part of the village's celebration of the coronation of King Charles III,” McCartney added.
According to McCartney, who also serves as the church’s duty first aider, the woman became short of breath upon reaching the top of the tower, managing to sit down before she collapsed.
The woman’s friend and others on the roof started resuscitating her before McCartney took over and provided aid before the paramedics arrived.
McCartney told CP that in a Tuesday Facebook post, the church updated the public about the health emergency that gained international attention. In the post, church leaders expressed gratitude for those who helped the woman and noted that she was doing better.
“The individual involved is now recovering in Treliske and our thoughts and prayers are with her and her family,” the Probus Parish Church added.
The church also revealed that a portion of the tower's structure was damaged during the rescue, prompting the closure of a path around the west side of the historic structure. It also asked that parents of small children or teenagers remind their children not to use the path.
“Full metal guard fencing will hopefully be in place soon as the stone that requires re-fixing weighs approximately 500kg (1,102 pounds) and we all want to make the area around the tower as safe as possible,” the church explained.
The Falmouth Coastguard Rescue Team recounted in a Monday Facebook post how it assisted the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust and multiple other rescue teams on Sunday.
“The person was winched from the church roof by the Coastguard Helicopter and passed to attending Ambulance crews,” the rescued team post explained.
As ITV News reported Monday, the rescue teams were called to the church on Sunday at 1:38 p.m. local time with footage taken around 4 p.m. showing emergency services still at the scene. While the rescue team winched the woman from the roof of the church, part of the village was blocked off.
“The incident required a multi-agency response including Devon and Cornwall Police, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service and HM Coastguard,” a spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) told the outlet. “SWASFT dispatched two double-crewed land ambulances and an operations officer.”
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
