BodyRecovery

At 13:10 today with the prior knowledge by NWAS (Lancashire Area) that a small number of team members were in team vehicles in the Rivington and Belmont areas, the team was requested by NWAS (LA) to respond to a report of a body having been found in Anglezarke Reservoir.

The North West Air Ambulance, Helimed 08, had already been despatched to this incident which arose when some fishermen reported a body in the water which was then apparently brought partly onto the banking by some passing walkers.

Anglezarke Reservoir lies within the primary operational area of our colleagues in Bowland Pennine MRT. Our TL Garry Rhodes liaised directly with the TL of BPMRT, Phil O’Brien, regarding this incident and with the knowledge that Lancashire Fire & Rescue and Lancashire Constabulary resources were also mobilising to this incident, it was decided that the small number of BMRT members already responding should continue their response and report back to Phil O’Brien if any further assistance was required.

At 13:20, six Bolton MRT members in three vehicles arrived at the Moor Road RVP on the extreme Northern embankment of Anglezarke Reservoir, meeting the first responding Fire crew and Police officers.

Shortly afterwards, further Fire resources arrived, including their Water Incident Unit.

The scene of vehicles assembled for this incident

Once the location of the deceased male at the water’s edge was determined (the bankside in the vicinity of Grey Heights Wood), two Bolton MRT members went to the scene along with Police officers to determine what was required.

At this stage, our Deputy Leader, who lives on the edge of the Rivington area, and is a white water kayaker, arrived with canoes.

It was decided that the man’s body would be evacuated utilising the LFRS small inflatable boat, which was launched from the Moor Road embankment.

The body was recovered in the boat back to Moor Road and passed into the care of undertakers at 15:53.

LFRS water rescue crews recovered the man’s body to the embankment at Moor Road

Resources involved in this incident included 8 Bolton MRT personnel in 3 team vehicles, an NWAS (Lancashire Area) Rapid Response Vehicle, North West Air Ambulance Helimed 08, single pump ladder appliances from LFRS Preston, Penwortham and Chorley Fire Stations (The Preston & Penwortham pump crews were swift-water rescue technician trained). The Major Incident Support Unit from Preston Fire Station also attended (de-mountable body containing water rescue boats), along with Police divisional resources including local officers, a duty inspector, CID personnel, and a two person CSI team.

This was an excellent example of all the services involved working together to conclude the incident.

(Our colleagues at Bowland Pennine MRT had been involved in a search in mid-January also involving SARDA resources for a missing person in this same general location.)

At 18:35 this evening, the team was paged by NWAS (GMA) to urgently attend an incident in the Egerton area.

A full emergency response was paged to what was initially thought to be a seriously injured person within Egerton (Cox Green) Quarry, Cox Green Road, Egerton.

23 team members responded in 4 team vehicles, sadly learning en-route that the person involved was deceased and that our response was now going to be a body recovery operation.

Meeting the responding NWAS resources at the northern part of Cox Green Road, team members were initially put on hold to liaise with responding GMP officers. Our first team member had arrived on scene at 19:00, closely followed by our Team Leader and our first responding team vehicle at 19:07.

Our Team Leader and Deputy Leader were despatched to liaise with GMP officers at a cordon being arranged in the quarry floor as full forensic protocols were beginning to be put into place.

A full Police investigation then swung into action as darkness fell and the night wore on, including detectives and forensic officers, with divisional Police resources in support.

Throughout the investigation phase, the team provided area lighting and personal lighting for the Police, route marking using chemical light sticks, escorts to the various Police resources operating on the steep slippery wet terrain of the quarry, and full catering support to all the GMP and Bolton MRT resources deployed.

Just after midnight the body of the 23 year old local man involved was removed from the quarry floor at the base of a steep drop by a small party of Bolton MRT members working alongside forensic and CID officers.

This small stretcher party then handed over the operation to a larger party of Bolton MRT members who evacuated the deceased out of the steep confines of the quarry to the GMP roadside RVP.

The operation concluded on scene at 01:00 with the departure of all team vehicles with our TL remaining on scene to further liaise with GMP up to 01:15.

With the rescue and recovery equipment put away, all members were back home by the incident conclusion by 01:45 (NWAS Ambulance resources deployed to this incident consisted of an Emergency Ambulance, a Rapid Response Vehicle, and a vehicle crewed by the Area Operational Duty Manager).

All the team members involved in this tragic incident and recovery operation extend their condolences to the family of the young 23 year old man involved in this terrible accident.

An unusual time to be called, as NWAS GMA rarely have reason to call us in the early morning, but at 08:17 this morning NWAS Greater Manchester Area, Paramedic Emergency Control paged the team for us to assist with the recovery of a young man’s body, in very sad circumstances.

A full team page went out at 08:32, and fifteen team members responded to the location near to Radcliffe on the banks of the River Irwell.
The young man had unfortunately taken his own life, and was hanging suspended under a steel girder footbridge, which crosses the River Irwell.

Although not suspended over the water, the man’s position was over the steep river bank, with the River Irwell at the time in full spate conditions.
We arrived at the Sion Street location to meet GMP Officers and Police Community Support Officers present, and proceeded to recover the man’s body to the top of the river banking where GMP CID Officers were able to carry out their necessary investigation on safer ground (prior to our arrival the NWAS Emergency Ambulance had departed the location).

Hand lines and other safety measures were used on this incident, due to the swollen River Irwell, running just below the body.

Team members perform a search of the banks down to the river, looking for anything that may be related to the circumstances surrounding the death of the young man.

Team members then assisted GMP CID with carrying out a search of the steep river bank for possible forensic evidence relating to the unfortunate man.
Throughout the operation, which took place in very heavy rain, all team members present wore their PFDs (personal flotation devices/life jackets), with other team members on the riverside with water throw lines as a health and safety precautionary measure, and with hand lines rigged up principally to assist GMP Officers with accessing the slope.

Once the on scene investigations were complete, team members then evacuated the man’s body using one of our mountain rescue stretchers, to the nearby waiting funeral directors vehicle.

This incident ended at 11:00, and is the second body recovery operation we have carried out for GMP this year.

At 14:15 Hrs today, Greater Manchester Police contacted the Team, to request our assistance with a body recovery operation on the border of Farnworth and Salford.

The body of a male had been discovered earlier in the day, in a strip of woodland immediately to the North of the M61 motorway, alongside the Buckley Lane road bridge over the motorway.

Police officers and undertakers were present but required the Teams assistance to evacuate the man’s body through the woodland and up a short steep slope to the roadside, where the undertakers and Police vehicles were waiting.

In all 10 Team members were involved, with the first arriving on scene at 14:53 Hrs and the evacuation being completed by 15:36 Hrs.

The condolences of the Team are expressed to those surrounding this young man.