Police officers rescued a man who fell down the seawall at the Apia black sand beach on Tuesday and injured himself.

An eyewitness told the Samoa Observer that the man, who is in his early 50s, tried to sit on top of the seawall and slipped and fell to sustain a deep cut on his head.

Two policemen, who were at the seawall for the launching of the Fautasi o Toa Challenge on Tuesday, rushed to the scene to rescue him. 

One of them called the ambulance as they made their way to the bottom of the seawall to help the man up. 

The unidentified man appeared dazed when he was escorted to the waiting ambulance to be taken to hospital.

It was not possible to get comments from the two policemen as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

It is understood the police initially tried to remove the injured man from the area as he did not appear to be well. A few minutes later he returned but to the other side of the seawall, where he slipped and injured himself.