At 15:34 this afternoon the team was contacted by NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Operations Centre who were requesting our assistance at an incident in Wigan, on the Leeds to Liverpool canal towpath.

A 16 year old male was reported to have fallen from his bike, sustaining suspected back and neck injuries. An NWAS (Manchester) Emergency Ambulance from Standish ambulance station was despatched to the rendezvous point at Hawkley Hall High School in Wigan. The casualty was located some distance away on the canal towpath.

With the first team member arriving at the RVP at 16:05, the team despatched medical and casualty-handling equipment to the scene. With team members and the NWAS crew working together, the injured male was placed onto a spinal immobilisation board and loaded onto our SAR Alpine Lite mountain rescue stretcher (complete with integrated wheel!)

After an easy carry down the canal towpath, for approximately 1.2km, the casualty was loaded into the the ambulance at 17:15, for onward transport to Wigan Royal Infirmary.

In total 13 team members responded to this incident, in 3 team vehicles, with the incident concluded at 18:45 (after equipment had been collected from the A&E department at Wigan).

We believe this is the first time the team has ever carried out a ’wheeled’ stretcher evacuation.