Hypothermic swimmer rescued in St. Brelade's Bay

Wednesday 27 February 2019

A woman had to be rescued by two other swimmers in St. Brelade's Bay this morning after she found herself in difficulty in the cold water.

Her difficulties prompted the Emergency Services to issue an alert to all swimmers about diving in during cold weather.

The woman, who is an experienced swimmer, was suffering from the effects of hypothermia and had to be transported to the hospital.

After seeing she was in difficulty, 100 metres south of the wayside slipway, two other swimmers who were on the beach called the emergency services before swimming out to rescue her.

Pictured: The woman was struggling in St. Brelade's Bay.

The Jersey Fire and Rescue Inshore Rescue Boat and the RNLI Inshore Lifeboat were both launched at 11:42 in the area of St Brelade’sbay.

Paramedics and Fire service personal arrived shortly after and treated the lady on the scene, before transporting her to hospital.

The Fire Service says that although the woman usually swims daily with her friend, she was on her own this morning. They think she got caught out by the low sea temperature.

The RNLI advises swimmer to never swim alone and to wear a wetsuit as well as a bright-coloured had for longer swims. "If you see someone in trouble, dial 999 and ask for the coastguard," they added.

They also recommend swimming parallel to the shore instead of straight out. "Cold water and currents can tire you out quickly and make it harder to return to shore," they have warned.