On Wednesday 3 April at 6:33pm, Gravesend RNLI was requested to launch by London Coastguard to a crew member who had suffered an injury onboard a Ro-Ro Cargo vessel in the area of Grays on the River Thames.
The crew on board the lifeboat located the very large vessel at Purfleet Deep Water Terminal, two RNLI members disembarked by climbing a fixed ladder to offer immediate aid to the casualty.
Volunteer crew member Ashley Bard said, ‘we were first to arrive on the scene and it was clear to see the casualty was in discomfort and had an obvious fracture to their lower right leg, we carried out a full casualty care assessment to ensure there were no additional injuries to be aware of and then continued to treat the affected area and plan the safe and swift evacuation of the patient’.
The casualty had been trapped and caught in a heavy industrial-grade winch system that assists the vessel with the retrieval of ropes that moor the 49166-ton vessel to the jetty.
‘The pain scale was initially on the higher side and continued to increase once the casualty’s adrenaline wore off, it was at that point my fellow crew prepared the pain relief, and the pain level dropped significantly, this made the casualty more comfortable and assisted with the movement from the ship the ambulance’.
Duty Commander Liam Sidders said, ‘I have had the pleasure to conduct the training and development of both RNLI volunteers for this particular incident, it’s incredibly humbling to see how they have developed their skills and confidence during their short time with us. Thankfully this scenario is something we train regularly, my crew acted exactly as expected and provided the top-quality service that the charity offers’.
The RNLI crew continued to provide monitoring and casualty care treatment while a multiagency briefing was held between the ambulance service and RNLI command staff to ensure that safe and effective outcomes were achieved.
The lifeboat left the scene at 7:45pm and returned to Gravesend Lifeboat Station for kit checks and refuelling. The lifeboat was made ready for service by 8pm.
