Oldham Mountain Rescue Service attend three incidents in two days

Oldham Mountain Rescue Service were called out to three incidents last weekend.

In the first incident a teenage boy was airlifted after suffering serious injuries to his hip, ribs, and arm after falling from his mountain bike at Ogden Reservoir. 

The team immobilised the casualty with a vacuum mattress before carrying him up a steep slope and across a field to the awaiting helicopter. He was then flown a short distance to a waiting ambulance. 

On Sunday, they responded to an incident at Ashway Gap in Greenfield, where a female walker's knee had locked out whilst coming down the path. She was unable to walk, and was given pain relief for her knee before putting her on a stretcher.  

She was carried on the stretcher and wheeled to the fence line before sledging the rest of the way down the grassy slope to the path below to the waiting ambulance. 

During this rescue another call came through with a request for help, also in the Dovestone area, from a walker in Birchen Clough unable to continue due to an injured ankle.  

The casualty and a companion were making their way down the challenging rocky path when the incident happened.  

A spokesperson for Oldham Mountain Rescue Service said: “We quickly sent two team members around to that location, one of which was a trained Remote Rescue Medical Technician to assess the casualty. 

“Now with two separate incidents underway, we requested additional support from our neighbouring team Holme Valley Mountain Rescue.  

“The casualty was given pain relief; their ankle was splinted and then they were loaded onto a stretcher ready for evacuation.  

“Due to the technical nature of the path in Birchen, we formed two rolling lines of team members who slowly and carefully passed the stretcher down between the lines to the bottom of the clough, safely delivering the casualty to a team vehicle. They were then driven to a waiting ambulance further down the valley. 

“Around 25 Oldham Team members and 12 Holme Valley Team members were involved in all rescues."