Sunday 10th January 2016 – 6.45pm – Chris Kowalik.
She was stuck in a cave, up a hill, deep in a valley with no mobile phone signal.
When she fell breaking a leg in Thor’s Cave in Staffordshire’s Manifold Valley, a person who was with her had to find a landline to make the ‘999’ call for help.
West Midlands Ambulance Service was notified shortly after 12.30pm today and sent two rapid response vehicles driven by a paramedic area support officer and an advanced community paramedic along with the Midlands Air Ambulance from Staffordshire. The Derby Mountain Rescue team was also on its way.
A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “The rapid response vehicles parked at the bottom of the hill, while the Midlands Air Ambulance landed at the top.
“It was established the only way the womancould be removed from the cave was downhill, so while the Midlands Air Ambulance’s clinical crew slipped and slid their way down the hill to the entrance of the cave, the pilot flew the helicopter to a football field in Wetton and landed it there. At the same time, the community paramedic and paramedic area support officer were climbing up the hill to the cave.
“The injured woman who is in her fifties was given pain relief, her ankle was re-aligned and her fractured leg was splinted before she was wrapped up like a cocoon to be carried out of the cave and down the hill using the specialist equipment from the Derby Mountain Rescue team who by now had also arrived.
Pictures above: Midlands Air Ambulance
Pictures above: West Midlands Ambulance Service
She was taken down to the 4×4 vehicle brought by the mountain rescue team. She was then driven to the football field and the awaiting Midlands Air Ambulance.
Above pictures: Midlands Air Ambulance
“Following a rescue that took more than two hours, she was then ready to be flown to Royal Derby Hospital.”
Ends