A MAN who got himself trapped on cliffs above Aberporth’s Dyffryn Beach ended up being winched to safety by a coastguard helicopter.

The rescue was watched by hundreds of beachgoers after the alarm was raised at around 3.25pm on Wednesday afternoon that a man, understood to be aged 40, had become stuck while attempting to scale the rocks on the east side of the beach.

It later emerged that he had sustained minor injuries.

Coastguards from New Quay and Gwbert attended, along with RNLI beach lifeguards from Aberporth and the RNLI inshore lifeboat from Cardigan, which had already been launched for a routine training assessment, was rerouted following the call and made its way to Aberporth to help with the incident.

“Having assessed the situation it was decided that because of the precarious nature of the casualty’s position a clifftop rescue was unrealistic so the decision was made to call out the coastguard helicopter from Caernarfon,” a coastguard spokesman told the Cambrian News.

An RNLI spokesperson confirmed that the man became stuck five metres from the top of the cliff, and due to his position coastguards were unable to get to him.

As holidaymakers and locals looked on, the helicopter arrived on the scene where it hovered for several minutes before the injured man was winched aboard and flown to Aberporth airfield, where, following an examination, he was reunited with his family.

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