AN INJURED and traumatised man left cut off by the tide after getting stuck on a cliff above a beach sparked a major coastguard rescue operation.

The 31-year-old was the subject of a search operation on the Jurassic Coast in West Dorset and ended up being airlifted to hospital after he was found injured lying on a cliff above a remote beach as darkness fell.

He was located following a search by two coastguard rescue teams who were unsure of his exact location and frantically scoured the coast with torches in a bid to get to him in time.

They followed the sound of the man’s voice to reach him.

The man was said to be in severe pain with a broken ankle and rescuers said he had been in a car accident just a few days before, which added to his trauma.

Lyme Regis Coastguard Rescue Team were first alerted to the incident at around 9.30pm on Saturday, after the man called 999 from his mobile.

The man said he had been out walking between Charmouth and Lyme Regis enjoying the sunset in the warm weather.

However he had got lost and attempted to scramble up the cliff as the tide was coming in but he had become stuck.

A dramatic rescue attempt was launched as 11 coastguards from West Bay and Lyme Regis rescue teams tried to find the man, who was now cut off by the tide.

A spokesman for Lyme Regis Coastguard Rescue Team said: “Contact was established with the casualty via his mobile phone.

“He was lying on the ground and unable to move after seemingly scrambling upwards to avoid the incoming tide.”

The spokesman added: “He was suffering from mild hypothermia, was in severe pain with a broken ankle and had been in a serious car accident a few days earlier.

“He could not provide the coastguard of any indication of his whereabouts. His conversation was also becoming increasingly listless and random.”

Two coastguard rescue officers reached the area and located the man after a 45-minute search using torches and the sound of the man’s voice.

The spokesman for Lyme Regis Coastguard said the man was found about a kilometre east of Lyme Regis near Black Ven, roughly 40 metres above the beach.

Black Ven is part of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site and famous for its mudslides as well as its fossils.

Coastguards said the man was winched aboard the coastguard helicopter before being taken straight to Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester for treatment.