A crew member on DBB jack-up Wind Pioneer was airlifted to hospital yesterday after suffering a leg injury at Dong Energy’s 172MW Gunfleet Sands offshore wind farm in the east of England.
The incident occurred during a “routine exercise” as the vessel was carrying out maintenance on the 48-turbine project at around 4pm on Sunday, Dong said.
The man suffered a leg injury and was airlifted to Colchester Hospital, it is understood. Local reports described the injury as a “badly lacerated leg”.
Support was provided by Dong and HM Coastguard, the company said.
A spokesman for the UK Coastguard said it dispatched a search and rescue helicopter from Lydd.
“The injured crewman was transferred to a support vessel and then winched on board the helicopter. The Clacton Coastguard Rescue Team was also on hand to assist,” the spokesman said.
Dong is the majority shareholder in Gunfleet Sands with Marubeni and the Development Bank of Japan each holding a 24.95% stake in the project sited 7km south-east of Clacton-on-Sea off Essex.
Image: Gunfleet Sands (Ashley Dacre and Commons Wikimedia)


