At 10.25hrs this morning the team was paged by Greater Manchester Police for assistance with a developing search for a missing 22 years old young man from the Land Gate area of Ashton in Makerfield / Wigan.
The man had been reported missing the previous evening, and GMP local searches including the use of a helicopter from the North West Air Operations Group (Police) had offered up no clues as to his whereabouts.
After gathering some initial information, our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE paged out the team at 10.52hrs and also requested assistance from our colleagues at Rossendale and Pendle MRT, Bowland Pennine MRT and SARDA.
Garry and fellow team member Steve Nelson then attended Leigh Police Station for a further briefing with a GMP Missing Person Search Manager and the local Inspector.
It was decided to establish a search control / RVP close to the missing mans home address at Land Gate, Ashton in Makerfield.
With thanks to the Park Public House (Marston’s) on Wigan Road A49, close to the M6 spur road at Junction 25, a search control was set up in the public house car park, with the Park Public House kindly offering the use of toilet facilities and supplying hot drinks to the arriving searchers, alongside full use of a large part of its car park.
GMP attempted to get a location of the missing mans mobilephone, by pinging the phone, which led to one search area being established, with other equally priority search areas also being quickly established.
With thanks to Phil O’Brien, Team Leader, Bowland Pennine MRT, attempts were also made using SARLOC to locate the missing man, but to no avail.
Search parties from Bolton MRT, Bowland Pennine MRT and Rossendale and Pendle MRT were sent out to various areas, including woodland and open water bodies in the Land Gate area, Edge Green and Bank heath / Golbourne, all commencing around 14.00hrs.
A specialist mountain rescue Trail Search Dog was also used in an attempt to track the missing mans route, whilst a mountain rescue air scenting search dog team covered other areas.
At the same time other lines of enquiry to establish the mans whereabouts were being investigated by GMP.
By 16.30hrs with no result, all the mountain rescue search areas had been concluded, and with no further intelligence to suggest at this stage any further search areas, the mountain rescue element of this missing person search operation was stood down, which following debriefing and reporting of actions to date, saw the last MRT elements leaving the search RVP at 18.00hrs.
The following resources were actually deployed to the ‘mountain rescue’ element of this search operation;
Bolton Mountain Rescue Team; Fifteen team members with one further team member stood down responding, 3x Team Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulances, 1x Team Minibus, Control Trailer and Catering facilities.
Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team; Four team members and one Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance.
Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team; Two team members and one Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance.
Search and Rescue Dog Association (Wales) Handler Iain Nicholson and Trail Dog Mij (Bowland Pennine MRT) assisted by navigator Simon Harris (Also Bowland Pennine MRT)
Search and Rescue Dog Association (England) Handler Steve Garafalo and Air Scenting Search Dog Finn (Rossendale and Pendle MRT)
Greater Manchester Police; (On scene resources only reported here) Missing Person Search Manager, one Liaison Officer, Divisional Officers
Postscript; As of Wednesday mid day, we understand this man is still missing with GMP enquiries continuing.
At 13:27 today, experienced team member Dave Marsh sent a radio message to base regarding an unfolding incident very near to where he lived in Darcy Lever, Bolton.
Dave was just about to go out to walk his dogs when the North West Air Ambulance landed very near by to his house. Dave offered his assistance to the air crew, which was accepted.
Approximately 400 metres away, at the rear of a house on Wheatfield Street, a 999 call had been made earlier with regards to a male who had apparently fallen from scaffolding, suffering serious injuries in the process.
Helimed lifts from the scene with the injured patient on board
Due to the nature of his injuries, the North West Air Ambulance was called and landed in a nearby small field off Clayton Street.
With the knowledge that some team members were working at base, Dave called on the team and asked them to respond, as he knew that a short carry over fences and gates would be required to get the casualty from Clayton Street and onto the Air Ambulance.
In consulation with the NWAS Manchester Emergency Control Centre and at the request of the Helimed crew on scene, two team vehicles responded from our Ladybridge Hall Base/HQ to provide extra hands for the short carry, arriving at the scene at 13:42.
With Dave assisting the crew with the carry, and two team members marshalling the footpaths surrounding the aircraft, Helimed departed the scene with the patient on board at 13:53.
At 12:55 early this rainy afternoon the team was paged by NWAS (Lancashire) Emergency Control Centre regarding a female hillwalker in an organised group, who had slipped fracturing her leg.
The accident had happened slightly earlier, resulting in an immediate emergency response by an NWAS (Lancashire) Ambulance and the Blackpool-based Helimed 08 North West Air Ambulance.
The 66 year old woman was in an organised party of (we belive) 25 walkers from the Manchester Wednesday Ramblers Group. A number of her colleague walkers stayed to comfort her and administer initial first aid whilst others walked down in the worsening rain and low cloud conditions.
The accident had happened beside a moorland track near to Turn Lowe, Darwen Moor, which gives access to Turton Moor from the Crookfield Road car park area of Tockholes.
By 13:05 the responding NWAS (Lancashire) Emergency Ambulance and Helimed 08 had arrived in the vicinity of Crookfield Road car park, with Helimed 08 unable to fly higher onto the moor where the casualty site was due to worsening weather conditions and low cloud.
Our first team members arrived at the Crookfield Road RVP at 13:18 followed by our three responding Land Rovers which arrived at 13:12-13:15. By this stage the NWAS Emergency Ambulance crew had gone up onto the moor escorted by the walking companions of the injured lady.
Our BM1 Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance, with five team members onboard was able to drive carefully up the very soft muddy ground of the moorland track in torrential rain and access the casualty site. Two other team members walked up to the casualty site (including our Team Leader!!) and together with the NWAS staff offered the injured lady Entonox painkilling gas, splinted her serious lower leg injury and placed her on Alpine Lite specialist Mountain Rescue stretcher. The stretcher, with the woman on board, was then loaded into the back of the team’s BM1 Land Rover ambulance and with an NWAS staff member on board, was carefully driven back off the moor to the Crookfield Road RVP.
Here team members transferred the casualty, still on the MR stretcher, the short distance across a moorland pasture and placed her into the care of Helimed 08 crew at 14:09.
This photo courtesy of local United Utilities Ranger, Glynn Haworth
At circa 14:15, Helimed 08 departed with the injured woman on board for Royal Blackburn Hospital. Three of the five companions of the injured lady who had stayed with her throughout were then given a lift in our BM2 Land Rover vehicle to Bolton train station to journey back home (with the two other companions being given a lift back to their car at Tockholes in the NWAS Ambulance).
All MRT members had departed the RVP by 14:33.
This incident was yet again another excellent example of the Bolton MRT, NWAS, and North West Air Ambulance working together to effect a successful rescue in very poor weather conditions.
The Bolton MRT would like to publically thank all members of the Manchester Wednesday Ramblers Group for their correct actions in dealing with this incident.
The following resources were directly involved in this incident:
NWAS (Lancashire) Emergency Control Centre Air Desk
NWAS (Lancashire) Emergency Ambulance from Clitheroe Ambulance station, three crew on board
North West Air Ambulance, Helimed 08 from Blackpool Airport
United Utilities Ranger Glynn Haworth (who offered help in opening locked farm gates)
Bolton MRT, three Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicles and 14 team members on scene
At 21.37hrs this wet and cold evening, with the majority of the team membership on our routine Wednesday night exercise, deployed throughout the moorland valley of Cadshaw Brook, the team was paged by a GMP Missing Person Search Manager to assist with a developing search for a missing 80 year old woman in the Eccles, Manchester, area.
The team was immediately recalled from the exercise to assemble at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ.
At the same time our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE, Deputy Team Leader Geoff Seddon and Steve Fletcher who had been at our Base / HQ at the time of the call out, immediately started formulating a search strategy and preparing search area mapping.
With all team members assembled at our Base / HQ from the exercise, the team in five vehicles plus our SAR Boat and Control Trailer, departed at 22.45hrs arriving at Eccles Police Station at 23.00hrs.
Here in the company of attending Police Officers, a thorough briefing from the Police took place.
Team members gather for the Police search briefing at Eccles police station
The 80 year old woman, with dementia, had left her Eccles home address around 14.10hrs and had apparently sought directions to return to her home address from asking at a retail outlet within the Trafford Centre later in the same afternoon, and had then been seen on the outskirts of the Trafford Centre complex in the vicinity of the Bridgewater Canal. (A route ‘home’ relatives informed us she was familiar with)
Given the concern for the well being of this missing woman, and due to the time elapsed since she was reported missing, the help of our colleagues at Rossendale and Pendle MRT was also urgently sought. (Thanks for your tremendous and immediate support)
Planning the initial search areas
Joint MRT / Police intensive search operations commenced shortly after the briefing, with a Search RVP being set up in the B&Q Car Park, Dumplington, just prior to midnight, with the search co-ordinated from our Control Trailer.
Searches took place on the Bridgewater Canal itself, utilising the teams SAR Boat, and all routes the missing woman may have taken to return to her home address.
Team members prepare the boat for a search of the canal banking
Rossendale and Pendle MRT alongside Police Officers were tasked with searching the extensive area surrounding the Trafford Centre shopping complex, including a large amount of densely planted tree and shrub areas.
Meanwhile all five Bolton MRT team vehicles and attending Police Vehicles searched the surrounding roads, and parts of the Trafford Park Industrial area.
In the early hours of the morning the GMP Air Support Unit Helicopter from the NWAOG (Police) arrived on scene, spending almost an hour carrying out extensive searches of the Bridgewater Canal corridor, parts of the adjacent Manchester Ship Canal, the Trafford Centre and Trafford Park, plus around the woman’s home address in Eccles.
By 03.00hrs in the morning, all MRT search area taskings had been completed, and with GMP search efforts and enquiries continuing, the MRT search operation was stood down.
The last Bolton MRT members departed the area at 03.20hrs.
UPDATE AS AT THURSDAY 16TH FEBRUARY;
Throughout the day GMP search efforts continued, including the Underwater Search Unit conducting further searches of the Bridgewater Canal, and Police Officers carrying out further searches in the area the woman had last been seen.
The woman was ultimately located many miles away in the Whalley Range area of Manchester, thankfully alive though cold.
The following resources were deployed on this search incident;
Bolton Mountain Rescue Team ; 28x team Call Out list members present on scene, plus our Search and Rescue Boat, five team Vehicles and our Control Trailer.
Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team; 9x Call Out list members, two team vehicles. (Inclusive of RPMRT / SARDA England
Search Dog Team, Handler Steve Garafalo and his Search Dog Finn)
North West Air Operations Group (Police) / Greater Manchester Police Air Support Unit Helicopter ‘ India 99.’
Greater Manchester Police; 1x Missing Person Search Manager, a large number of Divisional Officers.
At circa 17:36 one of our crews at Royal Bolton Hospital (at the conclusion of incident 19/2012) were informed by a GMP Police Officer of a report of an incident which would likely require the team, as it involved an injured hill walker upon the local moors, and to which GMP were responding too.
Our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE, who was at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ with a small number of team members, was immediately informed and directly contacted the Greater Manchester Police Force Duty Officer at the GMP Control Room.
GMP had received a report of an injured hill walker, ‘lost’ somewhere on a walk between Rivington Pike and Winter Hill, possibly in the general vicinity of Two Lads on Wilders Moor.
Given the very poor wintry conditions on the local moorlands, a very quick discussion between Garry and the Force Duty Manager, resulted in a decision to immediately deploy the team.
At 17:45 a full team call out was paged, requesting members to meet at the bottom of the moorland track of Georges Lane, on the moors above Horwich, where a search to locate the exact whereabouts of the injured hill walker would be launched from.
At 17:58 our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE assisted by team member Diane Blakeley, met the first responding GMP Officers at Georges Lane, and the responding NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance at 18:01, with our first responding team Land Rovers, BM2 and BM4 also in attendance at this time.
Although GMP had been in mobilephone contact with the hill walker, no contact could be made by Garry or the team’s Deputy Leader Geoff Seddon, and a quick search strategy was developed to locate the injured hill walker, particularly given the wintry conditions of freezing rain, icy conditions underfoot and low cloud combined with very cold temperatures and darkness.
Search parties were deployed from the Winter Hill TV Mast access road in the vicinity of Two Lads, with other parties deployed from the what was to become the main Emergency Services RVP at the remote and very isolated Pike Cottage (Also known as Sportsman’s Cottage) on the moorland track of Georges Lane, high on the moors above Horwich.
With no mobilephone contact possible with the missing and injured hill walker, at circa 18:19 our Deputy Leader Geoff Seddon, in the company of a GMP Officer saw the torchlight of the missing injured man, and by 18:29 had located the man, who was in the vicinity of Crooked Edge Hill in the area of Two Lads on Wilders Moor.
Team members arrive at the scene of the incident and shelter the injured male from the elements
The man had slipped on ice, and sustained a very painful suspected fracture dislocation of his kneecap, thankfully he was well equipped, but was still very cold from the ground and weather conditions, and also in considerable discomfort from his injury.
The casualty is loaded onto one of the team’s stretchers
At this stage, freezing rain was coating everything it landed on with a veneer of ice, including the moorland grass, with walking conditions underfoot very hazardous (indeed during this rescue a number of our members received painful bruising from simple slips, despite many wearing ‘ice chains’ on their boots and being experienced in snow and ice conditions).
Team members carry the man off the moor towards the George’s Lane RVP
With casualty care and rescue equipment despatched from the Winter Hill TV Mast road, and further MRT parties despatched from the Pike Cottage area, (All guided in to the casualty site in conditions of falling freezing rain and low cloud by Emergency Flares being fired off) the injured solo male 42 year old hill walker from the Horwich area, was given very strong drugs to combat his pain.
By 18:59 he was safely wrapped up in two large casualty bags (big waterproof and windproof sleeping bags) and placed on a mountain rescue specialist stretcher, with his dislocated knee splinted.
A shot of the emergency vehicles on George’s Lane – plenty of ice visible on the road!
The stretcher evacuation commenced at 19:05, with the casualty finally getting to the warmth of the NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance at 19:30, which was positioned by Pike Cottage, the stretcher party for the last ten minutes of the carry having been guided by the powerful vehicle mounted searchlights on our team Land Rovers.
Here in the NWAS Ambulance further treatment was given, with the NWAS Ambulance departing for Royal Bolton Hospital at 19:50, with team member (and full time Intensive Care Nurse) Naomi Horan travelling in the ambulance to offer guidance on the drugs administered. (Our BM2 vehicle escorted the ambulance down the moorland track)
The male casualty arrives at the waiting NWAS Ambulance for onward transport to hospital
By this stage most of our resources had left the RVPs with all heading back for warm drinks and to tidy up/dry kit used on this incident at our Ladybridge Hall Base/HQ.
In a remarkable co-incidence, the location we found this injured hill walker in was barely metres away from the location we have since determined the two young missing hill walkers were lost at, on incident 18/2012, Sunday 5th February!
The following resources deployed to this incident:
Bolton Mountain Rescue Team
25 team members involved with one team member stood down responding
(Two others couldn’t make the call but met up at our Base/HQ to help with the clean up)
All four Team Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance Vehicles
Greater Manchester Police
Force Control Room
Three Officers on scene, including one who accompanied the team on to the moor and fully helped with the rescue.
GMP requested Air Support, but low cloud and conditions of icing precluded the use of a helicopter
Lancashire Constabulary
Three Officers on scene in one vehicle.
NWAS (Manchester)
Belle Vue Emergency Control Centre
one Emergency Ambulance (2x crew, who held at Pike Cottage).
NWAS HART Team (stood down responding, when the casualty was found and it was determined on scene resources could deal with the incident)
A large number of police officers are being deployed to areas within Didsbury alongside colleagues from @manchesterfire to support @ManCityCouncil with evacuating residents at risk of flooding from #StormChristoph
⚠️ Severe Flood Warning covering parts of Didsbury, Chorlton & Northenden ⚠️
Please share the below image with friends, family & networks should anyone need info on how to prepare, what to expect & who to contact for urgent care/support.
Learn more: orlo.uk/xlwsbpic.twitter.com/AMelNkAY5U
The #M60 anticlockwise both entry slips from the #A576 and the roundabout itself at #J19 (#Middleton#A576) is currently CLOSED due to flooding in the carriageway. Traffic Officers are currently at scene, Maintenance Crews are on their way to the area to assist.
@OfficialTfGM
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Mar 20 2012
Incident 24/2012
At 10.25hrs this morning the team was paged by Greater Manchester Police for assistance with a developing search for a missing 22 years old young man from the Land Gate area of Ashton in Makerfield / Wigan.
The man had been reported missing the previous evening, and GMP local searches including the use of a helicopter from the North West Air Operations Group (Police) had offered up no clues as to his whereabouts.
After gathering some initial information, our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE paged out the team at 10.52hrs and also requested assistance from our colleagues at Rossendale and Pendle MRT, Bowland Pennine MRT and SARDA.
Garry and fellow team member Steve Nelson then attended Leigh Police Station for a further briefing with a GMP Missing Person Search Manager and the local Inspector.
It was decided to establish a search control / RVP close to the missing mans home address at Land Gate, Ashton in Makerfield.
With thanks to the Park Public House (Marston’s) on Wigan Road A49, close to the M6 spur road at Junction 25, a search control was set up in the public house car park, with the Park Public House kindly offering the use of toilet facilities and supplying hot drinks to the arriving searchers, alongside full use of a large part of its car park.
GMP attempted to get a location of the missing mans mobilephone, by pinging the phone, which led to one search area being established, with other equally priority search areas also being quickly established.
With thanks to Phil O’Brien, Team Leader, Bowland Pennine MRT, attempts were also made using SARLOC to locate the missing man, but to no avail.
Search parties from Bolton MRT, Bowland Pennine MRT and Rossendale and Pendle MRT were sent out to various areas, including woodland and open water bodies in the Land Gate area, Edge Green and Bank heath / Golbourne, all commencing around 14.00hrs.
A specialist mountain rescue Trail Search Dog was also used in an attempt to track the missing mans route, whilst a mountain rescue air scenting search dog team covered other areas.
At the same time other lines of enquiry to establish the mans whereabouts were being investigated by GMP.
By 16.30hrs with no result, all the mountain rescue search areas had been concluded, and with no further intelligence to suggest at this stage any further search areas, the mountain rescue element of this missing person search operation was stood down, which following debriefing and reporting of actions to date, saw the last MRT elements leaving the search RVP at 18.00hrs.
The following resources were actually deployed to the ‘mountain rescue’ element of this search operation;
Search and Rescue Dog Association (England) Handler Steve Garafalo and Air Scenting Search Dog Finn (Rossendale and Pendle MRT)
Postscript; As of Wednesday mid day, we understand this man is still missing with GMP enquiries continuing.
By admin • 2012, Incident • Tags: SearchLowland