A female had suffered a potentially serious leg injury when she came off her bike yesterday in woods to the North East of Morpeth. The North East Ambulance Service crew and Hazardous Area Response Team, who were already on scene, requested Mountain Rescue’s support in evacuating the female from the woods to the nearest road at Whorral Bank. They had managed to carry the injured person a few hundred metres but the route was becoming increasingly difficult.
An immediate callout was initiated and two response vehicles on blue lights were deployed from our Pegswood and Rothbury bases. As soon as our volunteers members were at the RVP, a purpose built Mountain Rescue stretcher and a wheel were deployed to the scene and the female was transferred to it for the remainder of the evacuation.
The evacuation was ‘tricky’ along a narrow path above steep ground down to the River Wansbeck with tree roots, gullies and steps to negotiate. By just after 18.00hrs the female had been safely evacuated to the road and transferred to the crewed Ambulance for the onward journey to hospital.
We wish the female well for a full and swift recovery, and hope that she’s back out on her bike soon.
Thank you to Northumbria Police for providing added assistance in managing the traffic on Whorral Bank while the final stages of the rescue were undertaken.
The incident involved 13 Team members for 2 hours 40 minutes. A further 12 members were stood down while travelling to the RVP.