At 14.54hrs this afternoon, via pager and SARCALL we were contacted by GMP regards the teams assistance with a developing search for a missing 42 years old male in the Bolton area.

Following initial information from GMP the team was placed on immediate standby at 15.06hrs, followed shortly thereafter at 15.18hrs by a full team call out.

Team members assembled at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ from circa 16.00hrs onwards, preparing search area mapping and making our vehicles ready, whilst our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE further liaised with GMP.

The team was tasked in co-operation with Police Officers, to undertake a comprehensive search of Queens Park, Bolton.

The team deployed to the Chorley New Road entrance to Queens Park, Bolton, arriving from 16.10hrs onwards, and awaited the tasked Police resources.

At 18.12hrs our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was contacted by GMP with the information that the missing person had been located by a Police patrol outside of the designated search area, and at 18.16hrs all team members involved and still responding were stood down via pager.

The following resources were involved in this incident;

• Bolton Mountain Rescue Team; 18x Call Out list members on scene, with at least an additional 5x more stood down responding. Three of the 18x present were on hold having ‘kitted up’ to search parts of the River Croal through the park and the many small lakes in the park. 4x Team Land Rover Mountain Rescue Ambulance vehicles, our Minibus / Crewbus Ambulance and our Incident Control Vehicle.
  We also attended with our semi rigid inflatable SAR Boat, in case of need on the water bodies in the park.
• Greater Manchester Police; Force Duty Officer, 2x Missing Person Search Managers, and one Tactical Aid Unit.

Whilst at the Search RVP and unconnected with this incident, team members were on hand for an RTC almost in front of all the assembled searchers, but with no apparent injuries other than car bodywork, we were not required.

At this same time, team members were also alerted to a female ‘lay’ in the road, leading to traffic congestion, again very nearby on Chorley New Road, and again unconnected to the search incident.

Team members attended, but were not required to carry out any casualty care and the situation quickly became a Police matter.

Neither of these two occurrence’s are featured in our Incident listings, and are reported here for information purposes only.