Broad Crag – Wed 5th Jul 2023

The team received a call from Cumbria Police about a walker who had fallen and suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder. As the location was high up near Broad Crag summit, helicopter support was requested via GNAAS. Helimed 58 responded quickly. Numbers were slightly low for a potentially difficult stretcher carry so extra numbers were provided by Duddon and Furness MRT.

Unfortunately the cloud base had dropped and when H58 arrived, direct access was not possible to the casualty, and they also had to refuel for a longer tasking . As such the larger capacity Coastguard helicopter R199 agreed to support us and mobilise from Prestwick. In the meantime team members ascended into the mist and were able to assess the casualty. He bravely was able to walk with assistance for a while which saved a period of hazardous stretcher carry for us over very tricky ground. He was then transferred to a stretcher for the remaining distance to Lingmell Col where a suitable landing site below the cloud had been located. A transfer to the helicopter took place and the walker was taken to hospital for further treatment. The teams then descended back to the valley and returned to respective bases to restock the vehicles for the next callout.

We wish the walker a swift recovery, and huge thanks once again to the crews of R199 and H58 for their help.