Agany of jet skier

A SEAFORD man was rescued by the Newhaven Lifeboat when he broke his back in a jet ski accident.

A SEAFORD man was rescued by the Newhaven Lifeboat when he broke his back in a jet ski accident.

Forty-year-old Graham Deubert, of Richmond Road, was injured when he was thrown over the vehicle's handlebars at sea on Saturday afternoon.

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Newhaven RNLI spokeswoman Pat Johns said: 'He had somersaulted over the handlebars of the jet ski and had extreme back pain after landing in the water. The Coastguard was alerted by a passing fishing vessel and his two friends went into the water and supported him until the Lifeboat arrived.'

She added: 'Two Lifeboat crew entered the water and sunk a rigid stretcher under him and then he was carefully lifted on to the Lifeboat and taken at a slow speed into Newhaven harbour where an ambulance was waiting.'

Maroons

Michael Cracknell, 20, from Haywards Heath, was on the West Beach with his parents enjoying the Easter weekend sunshine as the drama unfolded. Earlier he had watched Mr Deubert and his friends on their jet skis in Seaford Bay.

He said: 'I heard the terrifically loud bangs of the Lifeboat maroons and then one of the jet skis came flying into the harbour just as the Lifeboat went out to sea at high speed.'

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He watched as the jet ski led the way to the stricken man. Mr Deubert's jet ski was towed to shore by his friends.

Ambulance paramedics were waiting on the quayside and Mr Deubert was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

A hospital spokesman said he was in a stable condition and was being treated for fractured vertebrae in his back. He would not be requiring an operation and there was no evidence of damage to his spinal column.

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