Callout 76 in 2009

Incident

103 in 2009

Type

Callout — Injured & Medical

Location

Mickledore, Scafell Pike

Other Agencies

Great North Air Ambulance, HMS Gannet

Diagnosis

Arm Injury, Multiple Injuries

Call from police for a fallen walker below Mickledore on Scafell Pike. Initial ‘999’ went to Ambulance control who tasked Great North Air Ambulance and subsequently passed the job onto MRT through the police. The male walker in his early 20’s had fallen 10 meters whilst descending Scafell via Mickledore Chimney [there is no climbable descent route]. He fell and his fellow walker was left cragfast. Sea King requested which arrived from RN Gannet, Prestwick. GNAA used to ferry team members up the mountain prior to arrival of the Sea King. The crag fast male was winched from Mickledore Chimney and the injured walker lifted and taken to West Cumberland Hospital after casualty care given by team doctors. Injuries included a fractured arm. 16 team members attended and incident closed at around 7.30 p.m. [Footnote for the readers information only: Air ambulances are useful where they can land close to the casualty and safely shut down engines to load the stretcher. They can also be on scene within 20 to 30 minutes with medical expertise. For the majority of off-road /mountain incidents in the Lake District, MRT are needed and for the more serious life threatening incidents, requiring speedy evacuation to hospital, the Sea King is requested. This can both fly at night, winch team members/ casualties in a stretcher, carry more team members in as required. This incident required a Sea King but having air ambulance fly team members to the casualty site before it arrived was extremely valuable – also worthy of note is that MRT are the only rescue service that can deliver casualty care and evacuation in adverse conditions above the cloud base as no air asset can fly into the cloud or freezing snow conditions]