The accident happened as the 64-year-old woman walked with her husband along the sea defences just west of Warner Road in Selsey on Thursday afternoon.

She slipped almost 20 feet down the slope, off the end and head-first into the rocks where she became stuck.

Her terrified husband made a frantic 999 call and Selsey Coastguard rushed to the scene.

During the phone call the husband said he feared his wife would drown if the tide rose.

But luckily the tide was going out when the accident happened.

Fiona Warren, a spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said: 'There was a five-strong team there and they actually had to put on safety lines and harnesses to get down to the her because she was in a very vulnerable position.

'Her head was wedged and they managed to gently ease it out.'

The woman had been on a visit to Selsey with her husband from their home in Surrey.

The wall the couple walked along is just 2ft thick and covered in slimy seaweed, which caused her to slip.

When she was freed, she was put on to a stretcher and taken to St Richards Hospital, Chichester.