A FEMALE casualty was pulled from the sea close to the Tyne piers this afternoon by a Tynemouth RNLI lifeboat and airlifted to hospital by an RAF rescue helicopter.
Tynemouth RNLI’s inshore lifeboat was requested to launch at 12.30pm after a member of the public called Humber Coastguard to report that they had seen a body in the river Tyne close to South Shields pier.
The volunteer lifeboat crew sped to the scene and were guided to where the casualty was floating by the member of the public who had raised the alarm. The crew then pulled the person into the lifeboat, as the rescue helicopter from RAF Boulmer arrived.
The casualty was then winched from the lifeboat onto the helicopter and taken to Newcastle’s RVI hospital.