Winlaton Mill

Incident Type: Rescue

Early on Friday evening, the North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust requested the assistance of ourselves and

North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team to help locate a possible casualty in the Winlaton Mill area after a 999 call from a member of the public was unexpectedly disconnected. Despite repeated attempts to make contact, no further information about the casualty’s condition or exact location could be obtained.

Our Duty Controller worked alongside the NEAS Special Operations Desk, including sending a PhoneFind location request to the caller’s mobile phone. While ambulance resources, including a rapid response vehicle and the Hazardous Area Response Team (HART), made their way to the area, response vehicles from both teams were placed on standby, ready to assist if required.

A short time later, emergency services located a young person in the vicinity of Lock Haugh Viaduct. With ambulance crews still making their way to the scene, Mountain Rescue response vehicles were deployed to provide additional support.

Fortunately, before our teams arrived, NEAS confirmed they had reached the casualty, who had recovered sufficiently to walk out with the assistance of ambulance staff. All Mountain Rescue resources were stood down shortly afterwards.

We wish the casualty a full and speedy recovery.

The incident involved 7 Team members for 1 hour 17 minutes, with 7 additional members on standby.