At 14.46hrs this warm and sunny afternoon, we were paged by Lancashire Constabulary regarding our assistance with an incident in the Pickup Bank, Belthorn area of Darwen.
A full team call out was paged at 14.58hrs after further details had been sought from Lancashire Constabulary by team Call Out Contact Mike Marsh.
The incident was to assist Police with the recovery of a male’s body, sadly discovered by members of the public earlier this same afternoon, in Mean Brook, Ooze Castle Wood, Pickup Bank, Belthorn, Darwen.
The team responded to undertake a joint operation with Lancashire Constabulary Divisional assets and the North West Police Underwater Search and Marine Unit.
Initially our first responding members liaised with Police on scene, determining safe access and a safe evacuation route for the man’s body.
Working on scene with Officers from the North West Police Underwater Search and Marine Unit, the 30 minute mountain rescue stretcher evacuation from the location commenced at 17.40hrs, following routine investigations conducted on scene.
By circa 18.50hrs our members had departed on scene back to our garage and home locations.
The following resources were involved in this incident:
- Lancashire Constabulary ; Divisional Officers, CID Officers, SOCO
- North West Police Underwater Search and Marine Unit
- Bolton Mountain Rescue Team ; Four Team Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulances, 18x team call out list members.
It has subsequently been confirmed by Lancashire Constabulary, that subject to formal identification, it is believed that the body is that of a 51 years old Accrington man, who has been missing since Wednesday 9th April 2014.
Since the man’s disappearance, a major Police search operation and multiple media appeals have been mounted.
Alongside the continuing Police search operations and enquiries, searches for the missing man, have also been conducted on at least six separate occasions by our colleagues at Rossendale and Pendle MRT, assisting Lancashire Constabulary, on April 13th through to April 30th in many areas.
The condolences of those in Bolton MRT, Rossendale and Pendle MRT and Lancashire Constabulary are extended to the family of the man involved.
