Acomb

A group of Sea Cadets from across the North East had been kayaking the River North Tyne when a teenage cadet tipped out of their kayak and their leg became trapped between rocks. The group with their instructors managed to extricate the cadet to the aptly named Rescue Rock from where a call was made to the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

Prior to the Ambulance crew locating the group a request for Mountain Rescue support was made due to likelihood of a difficult extraction. Two response vehicles on blue lights and members from North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team and ourselves were deployed to the RVP near Acomb.

Following initial treatment by the Ambulance crew, the Teams provided with further pain relief to the cadet before their lower leg injury was immobilised and they were transferred into a Blizzard blanket and warm winter casualty bag on a lightweight Mountain Rescue stretcher. The initial part of the evacuation across Rescue Rock required extreme care due to the rocks being iced over in places. Once onto the river bank the going was easier and our Lyon Equipment Ltd wheel came in very handy again.

Once back at the RVP, the cadet was handed over to the NEAS crew for onward transport to hospital. We wish the cadet well for a swift and full recovery, and would like to thank the group for the way in which they dealt with the situation.

The Teams then stood down with members arriving home just in time to watch the England match!

The incident involved 26 members for 3 hours 25 minutes.