Norham Castle

Incident Type: Rescue

On Saturday afternoon, ourselves and North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team were requested by the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust to assist with a casualty near Norham Castle after reports that an individual had fallen down a steep river bank.

A NEAS double crewed ambulance was tasked along with a community paramedic. However, with concerns around the challenging terrain and the seriousness of the incident, both teams were quickly mobilised alongside colleagues from Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service and given their proximity to the incident, we asked for support from the Border Search and Rescue Unit

On arrival, team members were faced with a difficult and complex extraction involving steep, heavily wooded slopes above the River Tweed. Following a joint assessment with emergency service partners, specialist rope systems and water rescue resources were deployed to safely reach and evacuate the casualty.

A twin-line rope system was established to safely access the scene, while medical care was provided by NEAS a paramedic and Mountain Rescue remote rescue medical technicians. Once packaged safely, the casualty was transferred by stretcher to the riverbank before being moved upstream by the FRS water rescue team to a waiting ambulance.

This incident highlighted the importance of multi-agency working, with Mountain Rescue, Fire & Rescue, NEAS and Borders Water Rescue Team working closely together to bring the incident to a safe conclusion in a very challenging environment.

We’d like to thank all partner agencies involved for their support and teamwork throughout the incident.

This complex incident involved 15 mountain rescue team members for 6 hours.

In additional, 6 BSARU, 8 Borders Water rescue team, 4 NEAS and 9 FRS personnel (plus 2 pumps) attended.