[O]n Saturday 29th April, a 69-year-old man fell approximately 300ft from St Sunday Crag in the Lake District.
Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team members ascended to the scene of the incident where a passing police officer and emergency medical technician from Cumbria were assisting the man and his friends.
The man had suffered serious head injuries, possible chest trauma, a broken leg and wrist.
He was treated on scene by the rescue team’s doctor, a doctor and paramedic from the Great North Air Ambulance Service, and team members and then evacuated on a stretcher to the valley bottom before the medical team from the air ambulance anaesthetised the man for onward transport via helicopter to the Royal Victoria Infirmary hospital in Newcastle.
Mike Blakey, Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team Leader said: “We did not initially issue a statement as we were unable to contact his family and it was clear that he had suffered serious injuries.
“We are pleased to report that we are expecting him to make a full recovery, which is remarkable given the distance which he had fallen.
“We would like to formally thank the couple who were passing by and helped throughout. We’d also like to pass on our thanks to the Coastguard helicopter, Rescue 999, from Prestwick in Scotland. It was scrambled to assist us, but given the nature of the casualty’s injuries we made the decision to carry him to the air ambulance rather than wait for the second helicopter to arrive.”
Sixteen team members and four air crew were involved for approximately four hours.