A multi-agency response has resulted in the successful rescue of a fisherman in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
About 12.10pm today (Saturday 9 July 2022), emergency services responded to reports that a man rock fishing at Cape Bank Cliffs, La Perouse, had been swept into the ocean.
Officers from Eastern Beaches Police Area Command, the Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit, Water Police as well as Surf Life Saving NSW, Randwick Council Lifeguards and NSW Ambulance paramedics attended the location.
The 35-year-old man was in company with two friends – all of whom were wearing lifejackets – fishing at a low-level rock shelf when he was struck by a wave which knocked him into the surf.
Heavy swell has washed the man back into a small rock cave.
Due to the inaccessibility of the cave, officers from the Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit abseiled to the man’s location where he was winched up the cliff face.
Paramedics treated the man for minor lacerations and hypothermia. He was taken to Prince of Wales Hospital as precaution.
Eastern Beaches Police Area Command Duty Officer, Inspector Nicole Roache, said the rescue was a great outcome.
“Whilst rock fishing is a popular past time, it is also extremely dangerous,” said Inspector Roache.
“Because the man was wearing a lifejacket, coupled with the quick response of all first responders, we were able to avoid a tragic outcome.”
“This really shows the importance of wearing a lifejacket when rock fishing.”
“Officers from the Police Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit are no strangers to these cliffs. This year the Unit is celebrating it’s 80th anniversary and when they commenced operations in 1942 it was along these very shorelines,” said Inspector Roache.
