Beach umbrella impales woman in chest leading to helicopter evacuation

The 46-year-old from Pennsylvania was hurt during a visit to the resort town of Ocean City

The beach umbrella had to be cut in half by emergency responders before it could be removed (AP)

A woman is expected to make a full recovery after she was impaled by a beach umbrella in a freak accident.

The 46-year-old woman from Pennsylvania was hit in the chest by the beach umbrella during a visit to the resort town of Ocean City, Maryland, where she was reportedly lounging in a beach chair on Sunday afternoon.

The beach umbrella had to be cut in half by emergency responders before it could be removed, local media reported.

The incident began when the umbrella – a rental – was caught by winds after being left unattended.

The incident is not the first time that an umbrella has struck a beachgoer along the US Atlantic coast.

Just last week, a British woman was impaled by a parasol while enjoying the beach in New Jersey.

That woman, a 67-year-old from London, was attended to by emergency crews, who used a bolt cutter to free the victim from the umbrella which reportedly punctured her ankle.

A video captured by emergency responders at the Maryland beach shows a rescue helicopter arriving to transport the woman and landing in a green field near the sandy coastline.