A visitor (f, 56) slipped on wet rocks, at the edge of Malham Beck, close to Malham Cove, landing on her face, gashing her nose and dazing herself. When YAS paramedics and CRO members arrived, she had recovered sufficiently to walk, with assistance, to…
Two mountain bikers (m, 37; m, 34) hit a large rock, almost simultaneously, and were unseated near the westernmost point of the Settle Loop of the Pennine Bridleway. One appeared to have a shoulder injury and the other was confused after a blow to the …
A visitor (m, 79) was reported to have collapsed on the outward leg of the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail, near Pecca Falls, although later information as to location appeared confused. A ‘hasty party’ of CRO members located him and after assess…
A caver (f, 34) walking in Wellington boots from Gaping Gill back to Clapham, slipped on the rocky path above Trow Gill, sustaining a painful ankle injury. The initial call-out message suggested that the casualty was at the entrance to Ingleborough Cav…
Following a report of someone in the River Kent, near Sedgwick, five members of CRO’s swiftwater rescue team and the Duty Controller went to assist Kendal MRT (as did corresponding members of Duddon and Furness MRT) in supporting the statutory em…
A caver (m, 20) was reported by Craven Pothole Club (operating the GG winch) to be hung up on the rope in SE Pot. He had gone too low on a re-belay and had been unable to return. However, he was rescued by CPC members, escorted to the Main Chamber and…
A walker (m, 61) reached the top of Malham Cove, but, immediately on arrival, slipped on the wet limestone pavement, injuring his hip or upper leg in such a way that he could not stand. Immediately after a CRO controller and YAS ambulance personnel arr…
A walker (f, 70) was reported to have sprained an ankle and gashed her head in a fall on the limestone pavement at the top of Malham Cove. On arrival, team members found that the slight scalp wound had been covered and all that was required was a stret…
A walker (f18) was struggling to find her way down steep craggy ground off Giggleswick Scar. Whilst trying to descend she tripped, twisting her ankle and banging her chest on a rock. She was unable to bear weight on her foot and became benighted. Yorks…
Four cavers were reported some 3 hours overdue from their expected return from a trip down Curtain Pot on Malham Moor. The informant had become more concerned due to the onset of a thunderstorm with heavy rain. Whilst CRO were mobilising a rescue respo…
Whilst responding to incident number 64, CRO were called to assist Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) with a second incident. A young boy walking round the waterfalls trail at Ingleton tripped whilst stepping over a large lump of protruding bedrock that…
A young person walking along a bridleway near to Catrigg Force fell and dislocated her knee cap. Possibly due to excitement caused by the arrival of Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA), the young person may have inadvertently straightened her leg and found t…
A walker (f 50) participating in a 3 peaks charity walk developed pain in her right hip and knee during her decent from Ingleborough. On route to Horton in Ribblesdale, in the vicinity of Nick Pot, she was unable to continue walking. CRO team members a…
A family’s 5-year old German Shepherd went just off the path, slipped down the slope, then plunged into the river, just below Pecca Falls. It was last seen just above Pecca Bridge. CRO was called via North Yorkshire Police and team members atten…
Three inexperienced walkers, attempting the Three Peaks, reported themselves lost, but uninjured on Ingleborough. The Phonefind app showed them to be on the Swinetail, from where they were advised by phone to return to the summit shelter. This they did…
North Yorkshire Police contacted CRO regarding a report of a Three Peaks walker who was ahead of someone else, but had not arrived at his car when the second walker arrived there. Seven minutes later, a further message was received from NYP ‘Re …
One of a group of three adults rang North Yorkshire Police for Mountain Rescue assistance at the top of Malham Cove and a small group of CRO members was turned out to help. Two members of the walking group were experiencing difficulty on the limestone …
North Yorkshire Police (NYP) requested the help of CRO to search footpaths between Settle and Malham for a local missing person. As CRO team members were mobilising the missing person was found safe and well by NYP officers. Volunteer hours: 10
A local farmer reported that one of his sheep and her two lambs were stuck on a ledge at the former quarry at Meal Bank, near Ingleton. He had spotted them there on Saturday and hoped that they would be motivated to find their own way down when they ha…
A young person was attempting the 3 peaks walk with a school group when he developed pain in his right upper leg and found himself unable to continue walking beyond the summit shelter on Ingleborough. Two teachers waited with him while the rest of his …
On the descent from Ingleborough towards Gaping Gill, a walker (f, 59) slipped and fell forward, sustaining a facial injury. Although originally reported to have lost consciousness, briefly, and possibly having a hip injury, neither may have been the c…
CRO received a request to assist North Yorkshire Police in the search for a high risk missing person whose car was thought to have been found, empty, in Littondale. This is in the area covered by Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association, so the request…
On the way from Ingleborough to Chapel le dale, a walker (f, 68) tripped on an undulation in the grassy path, hearing a snap and feeling serious pain in her left ankle. Fortunately, a passing caving instructor was a member of a neighbouring rescue team…
Whilst awaiting more information from one of the Duty Controllers on scene at Malham regarding incident 45, we were called by North Yorkshire Police to a Male (80) with a twisted ankle at the top of the steps on the west side of the cove. The YAS param…
A sheep was reported to be stranded, 3m down into a pot-hole near Ellerbeck. Two team members attended and had little difficulty in rescuing the sheep, which the farmer took to a farm building to check that it was un-injured. Volunteer hours: 3
Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association received a call from Yorkshire Ambulance Service to a patient (initially described as a ‘body’) in the River Aire, near Riverside Walk, at Airton. As it was in CRO’s area, UWFRA transferred the…
An visitor (82, f) lost consciousness whilst going the through lower cave section past the steps. Paramedics from Yorkshire Ambulance Service entered the cave to commence casualty care. Team members then stretchered the casualty to the YAS ambulance at…
Numerous reports from the US confirm that Josh Bratchley returned to the surface safe and well around 7pm local time last night after being trapped in Mill Pond Cave near Nashville in Tennessee for over 24 hours. Josh was part of five-man team exploring the cave when he failed to return to the surface on…
Yorkshire Ambulance Service asked for assistance, following receipt of a 999 call saying that a walker had fallen and had been feeling dizzy, on the path from Gordale Bridge over to Malham Cove. When the CRO duty controller called the Emergency Operati…
Derbyshire Cave Rescue Organisation are this week celebrating after receiving more than £30,000-worth of life-saving gas detection equipment donated by Honeywell Analytics. The equipment, including four and five gas personal monitors and calibration equipment, was donated when DCRO’s equipment officer, Pete Dell, contacted them trying to source replacement sensors for their old equipment and the…
Two Three Peaks walkers (m, 21; f, 21) became detached from a much larger sponsored walk group and, without a map, took the wrong route off Ingleborough. Before the daylight was lost completely, they phoned North Yorkshire Police, who contacted CRO. Th…
Yorkshire Ambulance Service received a call, saying that a walker (m, 45) was fitting ‘on top of Pen y ghent’. YAS deployed both road and air ambulances, calling CRO as an added precaution. From home, the duty controller could see that the …
While trying to take a photograph from the top of a limestone outcrop, on the path from Brackenbottom to Pen y ghent, a walker (m, 13) fell on to rocks, below, sustaining chest injuries (t.b.c.). After attention from a YAS paramedic, it was agreed that…
A Three Peaks walker (m, 45?) rang an acquaintance in Horton, to say that he had taken a fall while descending from Ingleborough and was bleeding significantly from a head-wound. The acquaintance rang Yorkshire Ambulance Service, whose dispatcher, unab…
A climber (m, 55) suffered a medical event, fell from the crux of his climb and was left suspended, semi-conscious, in his harness on a narrow ledge. CRO members were able to lower him off so that YAS paramedics could make a preliminary examination. He…
Two cavers were reported to be ‘trapped’, two hours after entering Roaring Hole, near Southerscales, Ingleton. Ten minutes later they were reported to be on the surface and walking back down to Chapel le Dale, so no further action was requ…
A walker (f 69) slipped and fell on the limestone pavement at the top of Malham Cove. Visibility was very poor due to low cloud and the pavement was extremely slippery. The casualty was located by CRO team members and treated for a suspected lower leg …
Honoured … Rick Stanton, Connor Roe and Chris Jewell (Photos by Linda Wilson) The British divers at the centre of the Thai cave rescue have been recognised in the New Year’s honours list. Rick Stanton and John Volanthen, who reached the stranded boys first, have both been awarded the George Medal, which is the second…
A walker (m, 52) reported himself (and dog) ‘lost in fog and pitch black’, near the Ingleborough summit shelter. He was escorted down to a team vehicle, near Crina Bottom, to be brought off the hill. Avoidable. Volunteer time: 17 hours
A walker (f, 46) slipped on mud, on the path from Lower Winskill down to Langcliffe, hearing a ‘snap’ as she injured an ankle. Having given her pain relief, team members put the patient into an insulated casualty bag then carried and sledge…
A walker on an evening excursion from Settle to Ribblehead became lost after descending from the summit of Pen-y-ghent. During a brief and muffled telephone call, the CRO Duty Controller was only able to establish that the lost person had a fading torc…
A 3-peaks walker slipped on wet rocks just below the summit of Pen-y-ghent. His fall caused an injury to his ankle – a suspected fracture. The injured walker telephoned for help, but also started to make his way down the hill after his ankle was …
When Rick Stanton and John Volanthen surfaced in Chamber 3 of Tham Luang Cave on day 6 of the rescue to find four people waiting for them they first thought they’d somehow found the boys of the trapped Wild Boar team. In fact they’d discovered four lost Thai rescuers who had been trapped by the rising floodwaters. In the chaos of the early days of the rescue the absence of the men had been unreported and so had not been noticed by the Thai authorities and or the outside world. What followed was a dramatic and unparalleled “snatch” rescue mission perfectly conceived and executed as they dived the four men through three sumps to safety.
In the second part of Darkness Below’s interview with BCRC chair Peter Dennis, he tells Linda Wilson and Sharon Wheeler how disaster struck during the preparations for the final rescue dives.
CRO duty controllers were advised that a Three Peaks walker (m, 46), last seen at Ribblehead at 12.00 noon the previous day, had not returned to his car at Horton in Ribblesdale. All local hotels were phoned, in case the missing walker had stayed the …
While the eyes of the world were on the divers taking part in the Thai cave rescue, an unsung band of volunteers were beavering away behind the scenes to ensure that the divers had all the kit and assistance they needed. Peter Dennis, chair of the British Cave Rescue Council, tells the backroom story to Linda Wilson and Sharon Wheeler.
A walker (m,86) with several medical conditions and a history of back trouble was unable to complete the walk because of the pain. Having administered pain relief, team members carried the patient from just below Snow Falls up to Falls Park, at Beezle…
CRO were called to support Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association (UWFRA) with an ongoing incident. Two cavers had been reported overdue the previous evening from a traverse of Dowber Gill passage that links Dow Cave with Providence Pot. The overdue …
Descent 263 is now available! If you’re not already got your copy, we hope this short round up will tempt you to subscribe now, so head over to Wildplaces Publishing or if you’re lucky enough to have a caving shop anywhere near you, call in and get a one from them. As we say every…
A visitor reported her elderly parents missing on the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail. Unable to call her back and with the ‘mispers’ having no phone, the duty controller (resident in Ingleton) popped out to look for them. Just as a CRO colleague…
A visitor (m, 32) sustained a fracture to the shoulder, after taking a fall between Manor Bridge and Pecca Falls, on the Waterfalls Trail. Team members immobilised the shoulder, then supported him on the walk down to the main Trail car park. He was ass…
Descent 263 will be out soon so now’s a good time to check if you’re up to date with your subscription! The hard-working folks at Wildplaces will be delighted to welcome you back into the fold if yours has lapsed. Descent will provides news, photos and features both at home and abroad, all stunningly illustrated….
The team were called out by North Yorkshire Police to assist with the recovery of a person with fatal injuries from the foot of the cove. Team members were also tasked to search ledges and other parts of the cove for any items belonging to the deceased…
Following the amazing success of the recent Tham Luang cave in Thailand, one of the British cave rescue teams, responsible for getting some of the UK contingent to Thailand has announced a fund-raising campaign. The South and Mid-Wales Cave Rescue Team hope to reach a target of £1,000. Claire Vivian, the team’s Fund-Raising Officer, has…
With the Thailand cave rescue operations now completed with the 100 % successful evacuation of all casualties and rescue divers, Darkness Below presents some reflections on this incredible “good news” story. Before reading further, however, let us remember Saman Kunan, the Thai volunteer diver portrayed above, who lost his life while preparing the cave for the evacuation operation. There is nothing more noble than this: that someone will risk their life, and be prepared to lose it, in the course of helping to save the life of someone else.
We can now confirm that all twelve of the boys and their coach have been successfully rescued from the cave. As well as one of the largest rescues in history this has been one of the most protracted and technically difficult, yet ultimately successful cave rescues ever undertaken. The success of the rescue mission…
Various contradictory reports are circulating regarding the emergence of two of the boys. Reuters, citing a local official, says that the first two members of the Thai football team have been recovered from the cave. ITV’s John Irvine says that a local police chief has just told him that two of the boys are out…
Overnight an international team of divers entered the cave, beginning the operation to bring the trapped boys and their coach out of the cave. At 10 am local time 18 divers went into the cave to bring out the boys. The rescue team includes 13 international divers and five Thai navy Seals. Sources state that…
Tragic news came from Thailand today of the death of retired Thai Navy Seal Saman Kunan who ran out of air on a dive to stage further air cylinders into the cave. He became unconscious on the return journey from “chamber 3.” Attempts by his companions to revive him, were unsuccessful. His body was taken…
Photo courtesy of Chris Jewell Two more British cave divers, Chris Jewell and Jason Mallinson are joining the ongoing rescue effort in Thailand, along with around 500kg of additional equipment including rebreather sets, drysuits, cylinders, Sofnolime and A clamp adaptors to allow the UK divers to use Thai Navy cyclinders. The two reportedly left…
