Two alerts at same time for rescue teams

RESPONDING to a report of an injured female walker turned into a double call-out for Wicklow’s two mountain rescue teams as a family also found themselves in difficulty.

At noon on Sunday, January 15, the Glen of Imaal Red Cross Mountain Rescue Team and the Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team received word of a 39-year-old hill walker in the Glenealo Valley who had suffered a fracture to her right ankle.

The injury was assessed by mountain rescue personnel and she was stabilised at the scene. Painkillers were administered and the woman was evacuated by stretcher down the ‘zigzag’ Miner’s Path in very wet conditions. She was transferred to a waiting ambulance and the rescue was stood down at 4 p.m.

While that incident was ongoing, rescue members were alerted to a family lost on Camara Hill in the Glen of Imaal area. The father, mother and two young children became disorientated after low clod descended while they were out walking. It was also now raining heavily, which only added to their growing sense of unease.

Unable to locate their position, they dialled Emergency Services at around 2 p.m. Using Sarloc technology, their position was soon established by both mountain rescue teams.

Given the proximity of the army artillery range to their position and the danger of unexploded ordinance in the range, the family were advised by rescuers to return to the summit of the hill where they were met by a party of mountain rescue personnel. They were then escorted downhill and back to their car. The incident was stood down at 4 p.m.

The mountain rescue teams have thanked Óglaigh na hÉireann Defence Forces Ireland for their assistance.

The new year may only be a matter of weeks old but both incidents were already the third and fourth call-outs responded to by the Glen of Imaal Red Cross Mountain Rescue Team and the Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team. Last year, they were involved in over 60 call-outs.