When lifeboat volunteer Duncan Wallace headed off on his Winter honeymoon, he left his crew pager behind – but his lifesaving skills were still called upon 5,000 miles from home.

Duncan (pictured), a Newquay lifeboat crew member, was returning from an early morning surf when he heard a man shouting for help from the water.

‘When I reached him in the whitewater among the reefs I saw that he had suffered serious injuries after being struck by his surfboard,' explained Duncan, who pulled the surfer into shallower water and then hauled him up onto the beach.

Meanwhile, Duncan's wife Liz brought a first aid kit from their beach hut and Duncan treated the man’s wounds. His eye was hanging from its socket, and he had a bad cut to the head. Using his RNLI training, Duncan applied dressings and bandages to prevent further blood loss and to protect the casualty's displaced eye.

By now, a group of onlookers had gathered, including a young Australian doctor who was on a training placement in the area. Using a plank of wood as a stretcher, the doctor and Duncan put the casualty on the back of a tuk-tuk (a motorised rickshaw). The doctor then drove the injured surfer to the nearest hospital, where he spent 5 days recovering. Doctors managed to save his vision.

'The RNLI’s casualty care training is first class, said Duncan. 'It definitely made a difference on this occasion. And my wife agreed it had been a good job I’d brought my first aid kit with us on honeymoon!’