Woman pulls man in trouble out of the sea in Weymouth

The man was hauled to safety by brave onlookers after suffering a 'medical episode' in the water as he went swimming yesterday morning.

He was taken to hospital by ambulance. His condition was not known.

Police, paramedics and lifeguards were alerted to the incident and part of the beach on the town side of the Pier Bandstand was cordoned off. 

Police cars at Weymouth Pier Bandstand (Image: Tom Lawrence)

READ MORE: Emergency services at incident near Weymouth Beach

The Echo understands the man was rescued from the sea by several members of the public before the emergency services arrived.

One of them was Louisa Webb, who is on holiday in Weymouth.

Louisa Webb helped pull the man out of the sea (Image: Tom Lawrence)

After noticing the man going swimming and someone go to his aid, she quickly sprang into action.

Louisa, from Hereford, said: “I was here setting up for a day on the beach.

“I saw him go in, I thought he was brave doing that because it was a bit cold.

“I turned around and I saw a gentleman pull him out.

“I ran over and helped pull him out and put him in the recovery position. There was quite a few of us helping him.

“We went into the shop to get some windbreakers just so people passing by couldn’t see.

“He was in the ambulance for a while.

“He was there for quite a while before they went off.”

RNLI Beach Lifeguards quickly arrived and provided medical aid.

Alice Higgins lead supervisor, said: “Lifeguards responded to the casualty as well as paramedics critical care doctors and police.

“We gave him the best possible care that we could with the equipment and skills that we have.

“He was taken away by an ambulance on blue lights.”

A witness said: "I arrived at the beach at around 10.30am and it looked like a person had been pulled from the water.

"There were windbreakers around him which I thought was very respectful, so that there wasn't a lot of people staring.

"It was quite worrying to see, I just hope he is ok."

A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 10.04am to an incident in Weymouth. 

"We sent two double-crewed land ambulances, two critical care cars and a first responder to the scene and conveyed one patient by land ambulance to Dorset County Hospital.”

Dorset Police said Neighbourhood Officers provided assistance to paramedics.

Police said they'd like to thank members of the public for their patience whilst cordons were in place.

A spokesperson for Weymouth Town Council said: "Our Resort staff assisted emergency services while they attended to a medical incident by closing a small section of the beach which reopened shortly afterwards."