Man airlifted to hospital after 'tombstoning' off waterfall in North York Moors

Off-duty nurses were first to treat the injured person at Thomason Foss Waterfall, closed to Goathland, yesterday afternoon (Sunday).

Teams from Scarborough and Ryedale Mountain Rescue were called out to the beauty spot at 4.45pm, along with crews from North Yorkshire Police, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service and Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The man was hoisted into a Maritime and Coastguard Agency helicopter before being airlifted to Hull Royal Infirmary.

It comes just days after firefighters warned of the dangers of 'tombstoning' - jumping off the falls into the pool below - at the North York Moors beauty spot after youths aged 17-25 congregated at the waterfalls over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The search and rescue team posted on its Facebook page: "We were called to reports of a male who had sustained injuries after tombstoning off Thomason Foss waterfall close to Goathland.

"Thomason Foss - a steep sided valley - is particularly difficult to extract a casualty from and, in light of the suspected injuries, we requested the assistance of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Helicopter from Humberside Airport which completed a difficult winch from the scene of the accident and then flew the patient to Hull Royal Infirmary for definitive medical care.

"Our team had 27 team members deployed for three and three quarter hours in appropriate Covid-19 PPE."

Editor’s note:

First and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor