THE COASTGUARD helped a woman who was injured while walking along the coastal path.

Emergency services were called to the scene at around 12pm yesterday to assist a woman who had suffered a fall at a hill near Hive Beach, Burton Bradstock. 

Witnesses saw the Coastguard helicopter landing on a cliff above the beach and lower a stretcher.

Giles Gay-Greening, who works at the Hive Cafe at Burton Bradstock, called the emergency services.

“A chap came running down the hill with his dog” he said. “I phoned an ambulance while he went and got a blanket to keep her warm.

“Then I thought they would send an ambulance, but a helicopter turned up and it landed up on the cliff, and I heard they took her to hospital.”

South West Ambulance Service were called to the scene at 12.07pm to a patient in a field along the coastal path. She was taken to Dorset County Hospital.

A spokesman for the Coastguard said: "There was a medical evacuation. We believe that someone was injured on the coast path and we took them to hospital in the Coastguard rescue helicopter."

Linda Loveridge, owner of the Chesil Beach Lodge near to the scene, said: "We just saw the helicopter and the stretcher being lowered.

"It was circling for a long time. It took them about four attempts to land. It was very windy, so I think they had some difficulty.

"The stretcher was lowered onto the beach and they took someone off on the stretcher. Hopefully they weren’t too seriously injured.”