British Coastguard crew got the scare of a lifetime Monday when they were attempting to rescue a man who had reportedly jumped from an East Sussex “suicide spot” and narrowly missed being crushed by a car as it drove off the same cliff and crashed on the rocks below, the Daily Mail reported.
The 12-person rescue crew was trying to remove a man’s body that children had spotted in the waves when a Toyota 4x4 plunged 500 feet and landed a few yards away.
The traumatized crew and a helicopter team scrambled to find the driver.
"The chaplaincy at Eastbourne contacted us after some kids said there was a body floating in the water,” Dover Coastguard's rescue center manager, Spike Hughes, told the Daily Mail. "We were preparing to retrieve the body when all of a sudden a car drove off the cliff at the same time.
"We made our way to the car as it was more likely the man in the vehicle would still be alive.
"The tide was in, which made it very difficult. A coastguard helicopter spotted the second man's body in the water. He had been thrown clear of the car.”
Some rescue workers were so shocked by the double suicide they had to receive counseling.
One rescue worker was airlifted to a nearby hospital, suffering minor injuries.
Beachy Head cliff has been an infamous suicide spot for hundreds of years, and sees an average of 20 deaths each year.
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