UPDATED: Lifeboat crew members have this evening (Saturday) battled to save an 8-year-old boy who has been rescued from the sea off of Appley Beach in Ryde.
Following reports of a child under the water, Ryde Inshore Rescue immediately launched their secondary craft and rushed to locate the youngster, who was pulled into the lifeboat with resuscitation started immediately in front of hundreds of onlookers who were enjoying the Armed Forces Day celebrations.
As an emergency measure Coastguard Rescue 104 helicopter from Lee-on-Solent was tasked and landed on the beach in a bid to medivac the child as soon as possible.
Bembridge Coastguard were in the area for the Armed Forces Day and provided a vital communications link and made the scene safe for the arrival of the helicopter.
Ambulance crews eventually arrived at the scene alongside an Ambulance Service Officer, however with the helicopter already assisting in attempts to save the young boy’s life with the rotors still spinning, the youngster was lifted into the arms of a helicopter crewman and rushed across the sand and straight into the helicopter, ahead of an immediate take off en-route to St Mary’s Hospital, Newport.
Many families were left distressed at the harrowing scenes as CPR was carried out on the shoreline with a defibrillator being used. Some scenes were inappropriate to photograph/video.
The 8-year-old’s condition is currently unknown, however resuscitation was carried out for over 20 minutes.
UPDATE @ 21:10 – The young boy is said to be in a critical and unstable condition in hospital this evening.
Thanks to the efforts of emergency teams at Appley Beach, the 8-year-old regained a pulse.
UPDATE SUNDAY @ 05:20 – There has been improvement to the youngster’s condition overnight, according to a St Mary’s Hospital spokesperson.
Now described as ‘critical but stable’, the 8-year-old has been transferred to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Southampton Hospital for specialist care.
UPDATE SUNDAY @ 19:30 – Police are this evening continuing their investigations into yesterday’s incident with a National Police Air Service helicopter tasked to conduct an aerial survey of the Appley Beach area tonight.
The blue and yellow helicopter was witnessed to be circling Appley for around 15 minutes sparking readers to get in touch.
It is believed a Roads Policing Unit officer used a speed gun – normally used to catch speeding motorists – to capture the speed of the tide as the waves came and went on the shoreline. The device can also measure distance.
No further information has been released regarding the young boy’s condition, however it is understood he remains in a critical but stable condition in Southampton Hospital’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
