A woman had to be airlifted to hospital yesterday after breaking her ankle while out walking at Ards Forest Park.
Donegal Mountain Rescue coordinated the rescue with excellent support and cooperation from the Mulroy Bay Coastguard Unit, a HSE ambulance crew and the Coastguard helicopter crew 118 based at Strandhill in Sligo.
Two handlers from our SARDA dog unit also attended the scene.
Speaking to Donegal Daily, a spokesman for the Donegal Mountain Recue said they picked up the distress call at 12:40pm and dispatched a hasty crew to the area.
“However the Coastguard Unit, who happened to have a boat unit on exercise in the area, dropped off a crew member on Binnagorm beach and he was first to locate and stabilise the casualty on a headland beyond the locally famous Iron Man.
“He remained with her until the DMRT and ambulance crews arrived. The casualty was a 62 year old female from Co Kerry who was holidaying in the area with her husband. She unfortunately slipped on a treacherous section of track and suffered a broken ankle.”
The woman was in a state of some shock and considerable pain when the rescue crews from the various agencies arrived but stable.
Because of the distance she was from the nearest access point, some 2km, a decision was made to call the rescue helicopter.
According to DMRT spokesman Joseph Brennan she was “rescued in a classic exercise of a highline extraction to the helicopter in perfect weather conditions at 14:45.”
She was transported to Letterkenny General Hospital where she was was kept overnight and is undergoing surgery today .
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