Tricky rescue for wild swimmer who fell down gorge

A WILD swimmer who fell 10-metres down a steep, rock gorge was supported in a “highly complex” rescue operation where they were packaged on a stretcher before being passed across a river to a waiting helicopter.

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Nineteen volunteers from Northumberland’s Mountain Rescue teams were called out to the incident at Devil's Water, near Hexham, which took more than six hours.

A group of teenage girls witnessed the accident and raised the alarm in an area notorious for poor mobile reception.

Northumberland National Park and North of Tyne Mountain Rescue teams were deployed to Dukes House Wood alongside the North East Ambulance Service as the casualty had suffered potentially serious injuries in the fall.

With the difficulty of accessing the location where the casualty had fallen, volunteer members had to devise a plan to evacuate them.