Walker airlifted from mountain following six-hour rescue mission
A SERIOUSLY ill walker was airlifted from a Snowdonia mountain following a gruelling six-hour mission.
Mountain rescue crews were called out last Monday afternoon after a 59-year-old man started to have seizures a few hundred metres short of the summit of Cader Idris.
Rescuers from Aberdyfi Search and Rescue Team were called out at around 2.30pm, and immediately called for assistance from the coastguard helicopter “given the seriousness of his condition”.
The cloud base made it too difficult for the helicopter to reach the casualty, who was part of a group of seven people climbing the mountain, so mountain rescue crews had to make their way to the scene on foot. The coastguard helicopter flew rescuers as close as they could to the casualty, before teams walked to help him.
A spokesman for the Aberdyfi Search and Rescue Team said: “Having reached the ill man, rescuers made further assessments which confirmed the seriousness of the situation.
“As the man’s companions, cold and wet, were escorted down from the mountain by team volunteers, other were preparing the casualty for a stretcher carry down to a suitable landing site. As the transport process was about to begin, it became clear that there were occasional breaks in the cloud cover.”
They said that the coastguard helicopter was able to inch its way through the mist to the casualty site and land. The man was then flown to Ysbyty Gwynedd.
Graham O’Hanlon, from the search and rescue team, said: “We were facing a long, slow and difficult stretcher-carry with a seriously ill casualty, so were very happy to see (the coastguard helicopter) emerge from the mist. We are extremely grateful to the crew who gave us fantastic support throughout this operation and pulled off what looked like quite a remarkable piece of flying to reach our position.”
The rescue teams were safely off the mountain at 9pm – more than six hours after the initial call-out.