AN injured walker had to be airlifted to safety after a nasty fall on the beach at St Audries.

Having slipped and fallen on the rocks on the beach on Wednesday afternoon, the holiday home owner from Home Farm Holiday Camp dialled 999 as they were unable to get up and walk back to the shoreline.

With the tide incoming the South West Ambulance Service Trust requested assistance for Watchet Coastguards as well as the Devon Air Ambulance to reach the injured party in time to convey them to safety.

Coastguards were on the scene in under two minutes and they joined the ambulance and air ambulance crews on the foreshore.

The injured person was not severely injured but did require hospital treatment, and the crews agreed the quickest and safest way to get them back ashore was to fly them off the beach and onto a field above the cliffs at Rydon Hill.

Coastguards assisted with loading the casualty onto the helicopter while other team members set up a landing site in the field.

The helicopter flew from the beach to the hill, where the patient was transferred to a land ambulance and taken to hospital.

Simon Bale from Watchet Coastguard said: "Coastguards would like to remind anyone visiting the shoreline to take care amongst the rocks and shingle as well as near the mud and soft sand which is present on all our beaches. "Anyone requiring assistance on the coastline should dial 999 and ask for the Coastguard."