Clennell Hall

Incident Type: Search

Late on Monday evening, ourselves and North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team were activated by Northumbria Police to assist with the search for a missing mountain biker in the Alwinton area of Northumberland.

Whilst team members travelled to the area, the Mountain Rescue Incident Commander and search manager worked closely with the Police’s Initial Missing Person Search Adviser to develop a search strategy and plan, identifying the routes most likely to require searching. Using this plan, alongside missing person information and local knowledge of the area, high priority routes were identified and search groups were deployed on foot and in vehicles.

Supporting the search were a Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England search dog and handler, a mountain rescue drone team and a Maritime and Coastguard Agency search and rescue helicopter, with all partner agencies working together in the challenging overnight operation.

Tragically, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, a body was located by a Mountain Rescue search group on the edge of Kidland Forest.

Our thoughts are with the missing person’s family, friends and all those affected at this incredibly difficult time.

The incident involved 36 Team members for 8 hours and 45 minutes.