In reply to FreshSlate:
https://www.facebook.com/OldhamMRT
From their Facebook account:
Incident 6. On Sunday 27th April, shortly after 14:30, an Oldham Mountain Rescue Team member took a fall of some 40 feet whilst out training with the team in Upperwood Quarry, on the A635 above Greenfield.
The person injured, Phil Beard of Uppermill, is a long standing team member with many years experience in the team and a wealth of knowledge and experience of rope work, training people and organisations both in the UK and abroad.
Other emergency services were quickly on scene and Phil was flown by air ambulance to Salford Royal Hospital in Manchester.
Whilst he is quite widely injured and will require some surgery, none of the injuries are thought to be life-threatening and Phil is stable, alert and awake but in some pain and discomfort.
Phil's exceptionally good condition is thanks to the immediate attention he received from both his team members, police and the ambulance services. A team spokesman commented "we train exhaustively for just this type of incident, but it's not something you ever expect to happen to one of your own. Phil's colleagues demonstrated their medical and rescue skills in the most professional manner, under extremely difficult circumstances."
At this time, the accident is not believed to involve any equipment failure, but a full investigation is underway to establish the precise cause and make recommendations where appropriate.
Update on Phil Beard
A couple of the team members have been down to see Phil in hospital today (May 3), he's quite up beat considering what he's been through. He's still in ICU and already had a couple of operations, one of which was several hours, with a couple more planned for the coming weeks.
He has asked us to pass on his thanks for all the cards, emails, texts, Face Book and Twitter messages of best wishes.
