The woman was walking with her husband before she slipped almost 15 metres down a sea-defence slope covered in weeds and got her head stuck in the rocks. Only her legs were visible.

The incident happened 200 metres from the end of Warner Road, Selsey.

Coastguards helped to free her from the rocks in an operation that took 30 minutes to free her and at 2.15pm on Thursday, May 15, she was taken by stretcher to an ambulance and taken to St Richard's Hospital.

"She's lucky the tide was low – if the water was any higher she would have drowned," said Dave Fotheringham, spokesman for the Selsey Lifeboat Station.

"I have never seen anything quite like this before."

The woman's injuries were not thought to be serious.

Some Selsey residents feel more signs warning of the dangers of the sea defences and tides should be put up. Others feel keeping away from the danger areas is just a case of common sense.

Lee Carver (18), whose mum owns Linda's Cafe close to Warner Road, said: "The sea defences can be dangerous but if you're not from the area you're not to know.

"The tides are strong. It doesn't matter how strong a swimmer you are. I've had to pull out a few friends before and I've been helped out of the water as well."

His mum Linda, of Woodland Road, said: "I see a lot of people on the rocks and they are slippery. Four people have drowned in the past seven years."

Dave Bowles, of Green Lane, said: "More signs are needed along the beach warning of the tides. There's one on the entrance to the car park but people miss it."


To tell us where in the world you are reading this story click on the link below to add yourself to our readers' map.

MAP