Aberdyfi Search And Rescue Team
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Lightning Strikes Twice on Aran Fawddwy

25/1/2014

 
Picture(stock photo)
At around 1:00 p.m., and following the brief but sometimes severe showers of hail and snow that swept the area on Saturday, the Aberdyfi Search and Rescue Team (ASART)was alerted to two injured men close to the summit of Aran Fawddwy. 

Initial reports suggested that they had sustained 3 broken legs between them, but it subsequently transpired that they had been caught up in a sudden electrical storm that disabled the mobile phone network in adjacent districts. 

The men, both from Buckinghamshire and aged 58 and 37, had both experienced paralysis in the legs when lightning hit the ground about a metre away from their position. One man had regained some sensation, although the other remained unable to move his lower body.


The difficult atmospheric conditions and low cloud base made the prospect of a helicopter evacuation unlikely, and the prospect of a double stretcher evacuation over difficult terrain meant that the South Snowdonia and Aberglaslyn Rescue Teams were called to assist.  In the meantime, a rapid response party from ASART and the Snowdonia National Park Ranger team got to the casualties quickly to assess the situation, and a sudden lifting of the cloud base meant that the Rescue 122 helicopter from RAF Valley was able to extract the Casualties and ferry them to Ysbyty Gwynedd for further medical care.  All of the deployed teams were safely off the mountain by dusk.



Missing Person Search on the Mawddach Estuary

2/1/2014

 
Picture
At about 2:00 p.m. the team was called to assist in a multi-agency missing person search around the mouth of the Mawddach Estuary.
 
The search for a missing 64 year old man involved the Aberdyfi and South Snowdonia Search and Rescue Teams, North Wales Police and the Police helicopter, both Barmouth lifeboats, the RAF Rescue 122 helicopter, and the Barmouth Coastguard. With no sign of the missing person, ground teams were stood-down at the fall of darkness, although Rescue 122 and the lifeboat continued searching into the darkness.

Injured Kayaker on the Afon Mawddach

1/1/2014

 
Picture
At around 2:00 pm on Wed 1st Jan, a request was made by South Snowdonia Search and Rescue Team for Aberdyfi to assist in the rescue of a man with a back injury.
 
The casualty was a kayaker who had been injured when negotiating a waterfall on the remote upper reaches of the Afon Mawddach on the northern borders of the Coed y Brenin forest. He had been removed to the river bank by his colleagues, but the spot was remote.
 
Members of the rescue party assessed the location and the assistance of Rescue 122, the RAF Sea King Helicopter, was requested. On arrival the winch-man was lowered to assess the situation, and it was decided that the casualty could not be lifted from his current location. While arrangements were made to extract the man to a better location, the helicopter withdrew to refuel, but in the meantime the weather deteriorated and the icing risk meant the crew could not fly back to the location. This sudden turn of events meant the only option was to carry the casualty to a point where he could be collected by an ambulance. The first section of carry was through felled forestry, strewn with overgrown stumps, logs and brash. This extremely arduous terrain meant that it took well over an hour to cover a few hundred meters. The quality of the route eventually improved, although it turned uphill to climb out of the steep sided river valley. The road-head was eventually reached and  the casualty was passed on to the ambulance for transfer to hospital in Bangor. Team members started to head home at around 7:00 p.m. after what might be described as a 'robust' start to the year.

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