- Incident
- 81 in 2008
- Type
- Callout — Injured & Medical
- Location
- Spouthead Gill
- Diagnosis
- Multiple Injuries
- Tagged
- OMM, Swift Water
Telephone call from Keswick MRT after they had been contacted by Ambulance control (Keswick were already dealing with 3 incidents related to the same event ( Original Mountain Marathon). Female competitor in a team of two had been swept away down the swollen Spouthead Gill where it met with Lingmell Beck (Wasdale side of Styhead Pass). The team were immediately called out and approximately 20 team members attended. Unprecedented rainfall and high winds had flooded the valleys and swollen the rivers. The missing walker was located on an island in the middle of the raging gill. She was located on a very small island with a number of injuries. A further 4 walkers had gone to assist her but were also stranded. 4 Wasdale swift water technicians managed to get to the location and two got across to the island using ropes. A Sea King helicopter that had been called in to assist in the search for the lost walker was brought in to winch all 7 off the island which was quickly becoming engulfed. The injured and hypothermic female was stretcher winched. All were flown to Whitehaven Hospital. Incident closed at around 6.30 p.m.See grough website article and video footage here and competitors story hereSee further photos here from BBC website
Incident started at 14:20 and ended at 18:30 making 4.2 hrs in total. There were 20 Wasdale team members involved and the incident occured at NY 21462 09140 (altitude 287 m). Total rescuer hours: 84
