Incident 69/2013

In a continuation of the previous incident, this morning at 08.30hrs our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was in discussion with the GMP Missing Person Search Manager involved, and further search efforts to locate a missing 74 years old man from the Astley Bridge area were again concentrated in the Waters Meeting area and Astley and Eagley Brooks. (Including some very steep densely wooded valley sides)

At 08.45hrs a full team pager call out was initiated, followed by our Team Leader at 08.48hrs contacting our colleagues at Rossendale and Pendle MRT for their assistance.

A search control was established within the Waters Meeting Leisure Complex area, and by 10.00hrs multiple search resources were gathering and in some instances already deployed, from GMP, Bolton MRT and the North West (Police) Search and Underwater Marine Unit.

Once again the search was assisted by public media appeals.

With the search effort gathering apace, and whilst awaiting search reinforcements from RPMRT, at circa 11.45hrs, the missing man was located with injuries, in the valley of Astley Brook, very near to Blackburn Road, Astley Bridge, by a member of the North West Search and Underwater Marine Unit.

The man was located at the base of a very steep sided, densely wooded and vegetated valley side, and mountain rescue assistance was urgently requested to evacuate the man.

A small group of Bolton MRT members already deployed searching were requested to respond via a priority recall from their search areas.

Meanwhile experienced team members Alistair Greenough and Nigel Booth, were able to immediately respond, and initially met on the roadside of Blackburn Road with other responding Police resources and an NWAS Emergency Ambulance.

The NWSUMU member at the casualty site was joined by a PCSO Officer and then by Alistair Greenough and Nigel Booth, with Alistair, in full time employment as an Accident and Emergency Nurse, commencing a casualty assessment.

Two other responding Bolton MRT members to what they thought was the continuing search operation, now arrived to find themselves partaking in a steep ground rescue, being joined at circa 12.12hrs by responding RPMRT members.

By 12.23hrs the casualty had been placed on a specialist Mountain Rescue SAR Alpine Lite Stretcher, with a rope assisted stretcher evacuation commencing at 12.30hrs up the steep sides of the valley.

The man was quickly placed in to the responding NWAS Emergency Ambulance at 12.35hrs, at which point we then received a pager call out message from NWAS (Lancashire) to respond immediately to another incident, this time at Rivington. (Please see Incident Report 70 – 2013)

Following the next incident, the team journeyed to Royal Bolton Hospital, where the injured man had been taken, to retrieve equipment items used on this rescue.
(Footnote; we are led to believe from the family as of Tuesday 11th June, that the man involved suffered a fractured nose, fractured ribs, a head injury and bruising)

The following resources were deployed today to this search and then rescue incident;

• GMP; One Missing Person Search Manager.
• GMP; Two Tactical Aid Unit Teams.
• GMP; Divisional Police Officers and PCSOs.
• North West (Police) Search and Underwater Marine Unit.
• NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance, two crew, from Bury Ambulance Station.
• Rossendale and Pendle MRT; Two Team Mountain Rescue Land Rover Ambulances, and seven team members.
• Bolton MRT; Two Team Mountain Rescue Land Rover Ambulances, our Incident Control Vehicle, and ten team members with one further team member stood down responding.

This successful search and rescue operation illustrates the closely integrated operational working between all the Emergency Services involved.