A HIKER was rescued by helicopter in Saddleworth following a fall at a local beauty spot.
Oldham Mountain Rescue Team received a request for assistance from Greater Manchester Police, who had a report of an injured female hiker at Dean Rocks, near Dovestone, Greenfield on Saturday, January 20.
After using PhoneFIND technology to establish the exact location of the casualty, the team soon had a fast party, including team Casualty Carer, with the injured person.
The casualty had suffered a suspected fractured ankle following a slip on the ice.
Due to the extremely hazardous nature of the route out for a stretcher carry, the Team requested a helicopter extraction by Maritime and Coastguard Agency who transferred the casualty, her partner, and some of the mountain rescue MR team back down to Greenfield Reservoir and the waiting North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust ambulance.
OMRT team leader Rob Tortoishell said: ”Huge thanks to the casualty’s friends, who did all the right things by carrying extra clothing and keeping her warm while waiting for help to arrive.
“Thanks also to R912 from Humberside for the helicopter; the ice on the paths was treacherous and would have made carrying the stretcher down a tricky undertaking.”
15 OMRT personnel were involved for just over three hours.
Depending on just how serious the fracture actually was, (and I’ve walked over three miles with a fractured ankle; many years ago when much younger,) and before mobile phones were a thing she’d probably have been carried or walked off the moors without any great fuss.
Still great publicity and it all helps with fundraising.
In any instance I hope for and would expect a reasonably rapid recovery from a nasty and painful injury.