A MAN who spent the night in a bramble-covered ditch after falling about 40ft off a cliff was plucked to safety in a dramatic rescue the following morning.

Coastguard officers had to hack their way through thick undergrowth to get to the man who had plunged off a cliff in a remote part of Portland several hours previously.

It is understood he fell on Saturday night while out walking with the brambles breaking his fall and probably saving his life.

But it was not until yesterday morning that emergency services were notified of his predicament after a dog walker heard cries for help.

The incident was one of four coastal rescues in the Weymouth and Portland area in 24 hours.

In another incident, a man dived in to rescue another man who fell into Weymouth Harbour.

Wyke Coastguard said it was sent to Portland yesterday as support for other teams to help rescue the cliff fall man, believed to be aged in his 50s.

The Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance was sent to the scene – at East Cliff close to Nickodemus Knob behind Fancy’s Farm – and a doctor assessed the casualty.

But it was decided due to the “inhospitable” location the man would have to be winched out so the Coastguard helicopter from Lee-on-Solent was scrambled.

The man had suffered “multiple injuries” including a head wound and severe cuts and bruises and was airlifted to Dorset County Hospital.

A spokesman for Wyke Coastguard said: "A member of the public had called the emergency services after hearing cries for help coming from deep heavy undergrowth at the base of a cliff.

"The casualty had fallen approximately 40ft from the clifftop overnight and had landed in heavy undergrowth below, sustaining multiple injuries, and being unable to raise the alarm until hearing a passing member of the public on Sunday morning."

They added: "Due to the extremely overgrown location in which the casualty had landed, the team members had to cut their way through the dense undergrowth to allow ambulance technicians access. When through, the technicians established the nature of the injuries. 

"Helimed 10 (air ambulance) was tasked to assist, though when on scene, the paramedics requested a helicopter with winch facility to extract, due to the inhospitable location making extraction by stretcher very difficult."

Meanwhile, a man who plunged into Weymouth Harbour, hitting his head on a pontoon as he went in, was rescued by a quick-thinking member of the public.

It happened at the quay on Trinity Road on Saturday afternoon and Wyke Coastguard assisted paramedics in getting the casualty into an ambulance.

A team spokesman said: “A member of the public had reportedly fallen from the harbourside, hitting their head on a pontoon, and ending up in the harbour. A bystander had immediately jumped in to the harbour and pulled the casualty clear of the water.”

Also on Saturday, coastguards rescued a climber who had suffered a twisted ankle in a fall at Cuttings Cliff, near Church Ope Cove.

And they were in action again in the evening when a man who had suffered a seizure while partying with friends on a remote beach needed to get to hospital.

The Wyke team worked with a team from Lulworth and a paramedic to rescue the man at Osmington.

Due to the location, it was decided the safest way to get the person out was an airlift and a Coastguard helicopter from St Athan (Wales) was sent.

A Wyke Coastguard spokesman said: “We assisted the ambulance technician with securing the casualty to one of our stretchers. Due to the proximity of the stretcher to the undergrowth and trees, the stretcher was secured using a high line, allowing the stretcher to be held securely until received by the helicopter.”