Tragic 40 Metre Cliff Fall Injures Man at Melbourne's Black Rock

In short: An 18-year-old man is in hospital with spinal, arm and leg injuries after falling 40m down a cliff at Black Rock on Sunday night. The man fell from the clifftop onto a sandstone ledge about five metres above the ground, making his rescue particularly challenging for emergency crews. It came after a day of multiple rescues of paddleboarders who were swept into the bay by strong winds from beaches along the eastern side of Port Phillip. A man is in hospital after falling about 40 metres down a cliff at a beach in Melbourne's south. The 18-year-old suffered spinal, arm and leg injuries after falling onto a ledge at Half Moon Bay in Black Rock about 8:30pm on Sunday. Fire Rescue Victoria's (FRV) high angle rescue team joined State Emergency Service crews and paramedics as they attempted to reach the man. FRV Senior Station Officer Tyson Scurrah said the ledge was about 5 metres above the ground, which posed a further challenge for crews trying to treat him and bring him down safely. "We were required to go down there and set up in very difficult terrain," he told ABC Radio Melbourne. "It's all sandstone so nothing too stable for us to anchor our ropes off." He said the teams rigged up a system that allowed paramedics to stabilise the patient and then lower him to the sand and walk him out along the beach. " He's a very lucky person. " The rescue took about half an hour. The man was then transferred to hospital in a stable condition. The rescue comes just days after a woman fell off a cliff in the neighbouring suburb of Beaumaris. She remains in a critical condition in hospital. There were also a number of similar rescues at beaches in Victoria in December. Meanwhile, lifesavers carried out multiple rescues of paddleboarders around Melbourne yesterday as unusual easterly winds caught beachgoers unawares. Carrum Surf Lifesavers pulled seven paddleboarders back to shore and Lifesaving Victoria's watercraft rescued another two. The club's Ben Rooks said there were also multiple rescues at neighbouring Chelsea, Aspendale and Bonbeach. "People would go out within what they felt was their comfort zone and then suddenly realise, a bit like when you go for a bike ride and you've got a tail wind when you go out but then you've got a headwind when on the way back and suddenly you realise you're struggling a bit," Mr Rooks said. He said most of the rescues were people aged in their 20s but there were some children rescued after drifting out into Port Phillip. "If you've got children in the water, always keep them within arm's length so you can grab them if something happens," he said.