A walker badly injured in a fall has been airlifted to the Royal Victorial Hospital. The Coastguard, Police helicopter and Mourne Mountain Rescue Team launched a search around 2:30pm for the man who was believed to have fallen around 50 feet in the Eagle Rocks area of Slieve Donard. On locating him first aid was administered at the scene for suspected head injuries and broken bones before airlifting him to hospital.
“It took quite a while to locate the man,” Ed Kilgore from the rescue team told UTV.
“The situation was quite vague to us. We had to wait for the helicopter to come back in and airlift him out, and he’s being transferred to Musgrave and from there I believe to the Royal.”
Richard Newell of the Belfast Coastguard said: “We understand he has suffered a fall of possibly up to 40 or 50 metres, so we are talking about head injuries, possible broken bones and lacerations.”
Another coastguard spokesman said: “Irish Coastguard Rescue helicopter 116, Police helicopter 44, Mourne Mountain Rescue Team, Bangor and South Down Coastguard Rescue Teams, police and ambulance service were all involved. The casualty was located by Mountain Rescue and transferred to hospital by Coastguard helicopter.”
Mourne Mountain Rescue Helicopter over Slieve Donard
The PSNI can provide air support for spotting but Northern Ireland does not have its own rescue helicopter and mountain rescues requiring airlifting are carried out with Coastguard aircraft from Dublin.
Eagle Rock area of Slieve Donard