Incident report

Buxton Mountain Rescue Team was called at 5:35pm on Saturday 16th September following the report of a badly injured 14 year old girl stuck on steep ground near Lathkill Dale.
The girl had been taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme when she fell some distance over a limestone crag, coming to rest on steep ground and sustaining potentially significant injuries to her hip and shoulder. An East Midlands Ambulance paramedic was already on scene when the first team members arrived and, due to the potential seriousness of the injuries, an air ambulance had also been requested. Helimed 54 arrived to give assistance however, following further assessment, the injuries were considered to be not as serious as was first thought so she could be taken to hospital by land ambulance, thereby freeing the Helimed for other incidents if required.
11 Buxton team members and 6 colleagues from Edale Mountain Rescue Team attended this incident and, following the initial medical treatment, they worked to safely extract the girl from the precarious terrain and carry her back to the waiting ambulance. She was carefully wrapped and secured to a stretcher and a back-rope was used to give extra protection and a breaking mechanism on the steep and slippery ground. Once off the slope she was carried up the limestone dale to a nearby farm where a land ambulance was waiting to take her to hospital for further treatment.
The team is grateful to the farmer for his assistance with transporting team members to the incident site, which meant that our off-road team vehicle did not need to make multiple trips (or our team members did not have to walk the extra distance!).
Photo credit: BMRT.