At 10.42hrs this morning we were paged by Lancashire Constabulary for the teams assistance with a developing search for a man from the Blackburn area who had gone missing on the evening of Saturday 24th July 2010.

The missing man’s car had been located some hours earlier than our call, at a car park alongside the moorland Turton and Entwistle Reservoir, which is fringed by mature woodlands and numerous trails, with varying terrain including steep slopes and surrounding moorland.

Our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE met up with a Lancashire Constabulary POLSA (Police Search Advisor) at 11.55hrs, at Batridge Road Car Park, alongside Turton and Entwistle Reservoir, where the missing mans car had been located, and they immediately started to jointly formulate a search plan.

By 12.35hrs, our team vehicles and other assets had arrived, and a full Police / MRT search control was established.

Joint Lancashire Constabulary / PCSO / Bolton MRT search parties were dispatched in to the dense woodlands surrounding the car park area, with a SARDA dog team joining the search effort at 13.10hrs. Very heavy rain showers frequently occurred throughout this part of the days search.

By 13.53hrs, our Search and Rescue Boat and two crew commenced a search of the surface of the reservoir and the banksides, working in conjunction with a bankside search team.

Rossendale and Pendle MRT members and resources also joined in the search closely followed by the North West (Police) Underwater Search and Marine Unit. (NWUSMU)

With intensive land and water searches in progress, sadly at just before 16.30hrs, the missing mans body was located underwater in Turton and Entwistle Reservoir by a NWUSMU diver, and was subsequently recovered to the shore by NWUSMU and Bolton MRT personnel.

By 17.20hrs all MRT assets had departed the scene.

This was a well organised major search operation, involving many Lancashire Constabulary specialist units working in close liaison and total harmony with MRT assets.

Bolton MRT supplied full catering throughout this search operation with our Catering Trailer crewed by members of our Support Group and a walking companion of our Team Secretary.

The condolences of Bolton MRT are expressed to the family of the deceased man.

The following resources were known to have been involved in this search operation ;

• Bolton Mountain Rescue Team,
  • 13x Team Call Out list members,
  • 3x Support Group members,
  • 1x ’Friend of the Team’ assisting our Support Group,
  • with 4x other Call Out List members stood down en route to the search when the mans body was discovered.
  • All five team vehicles,
  • Control Trailer,
  • Catering Trailer,
  • Search and Rescue Boat (3.5m semi rigid inflatable), Aershelta equipment.
• Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team,
  • 10x Team Call Out List members and
  • two Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulances.
• One Mountain Rescue Search and Rescue Dog Team, Handler Alison Nicholson / Search Dog Floss, from SARDA England / Bowland Pennine MRT.
• Lancashire Constabulary ;
  • 1x POLSA,
  • 1x Operational Support Unit (Sgt and five Police Officers),
  • 3x PCSOs, Divisional Police Officers, CID.
• North West (Police) Underwater Search and Marine Unit.
• United Utilities 2x staff members.