The government plans to have Falmouth coastguard station manned only during daylight Two young women have been taken to hospital after their car went over a cliff in Cornwall in the dark.
The women managed to get out of the vehicle and were rescued by a lifeboat following the incident at Pendennis Point at about 2215 GMT on Saturday.
Coastguards said the car was driven off the cliff at the popular beauty spot, which overlooks Falmouth Bay.
The pair were taken to hospital after being rescued. It has not been revealed how the car came to go over the cliff.
Police, fire crews and the ambulance service were also called into action.
Marc Thomas, watch manager at Falmouth Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, said: “The car’s two occupants, both female, have been transferred by lifeboat to the Falmouth lifeboat house where they will then be taken on to the Royal Cornwall Hospital.
“The car is in an upright and intact position but badly damaged and will be recovered in due course.”
In December, the government announced plans to only have Falmouth’s coastguard station manned during daylight hours, as part of a move to cut the number of main coastguard centres from 18 to eight, with only three open 24 hours a day.
Falmouth currently monitors an area totalling 660,000 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean.
A consultation period on the closure plans is still going on.
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