Boy deserves award for helping mother after mountain plunge, say rescuers
A 10-year-old boy who helped rescue his mother after she took a plunge during a mountain climb deserves an award, her rescuers said.
Oban Mountain Rescue Team praised the actions of the youngster, who managed to reach his mother on Ben Cruachan in Argyll after a serious fall and look after her until help arrived.
The boy, plus his mother, father and two other children aged five and nine, took a wrong turn while descending the 3,694ft mountain on Monday and ended up on very steep ground.
We have been holding back from commenting on our rescue on Monday night to see how the casualty was progressing and now she seems to be out of danger and classed as ‘comfortable’ in hospital (although I’m sure she isn’t).Oban MRT were called into action at 19.50 on Monday evening to assist a family incident on Ben Cruachan. The mother, father and 3 young children 5, 9 & 10 had walked up Ben Cruachan 1126m on a very pleasant day. But on the way down they took a wrong turn and ended up on some very steep ground.Mum fell into a ravine about 100m and the rest of the family were unable to get down to her. Eventually the oldest boy managed to get down to his mother and use her mobile phone to call for help which is where we come into the story.Whilst we were mobilising he managed to talk to the police giving a location description. A local police unit was dispatched to try and locate them it was dark by this point and luckily the family were well prepared and had a torch.Meanwhile the lad was talking to his mum reassuring her that help was on the way and keeping her conscious. It took our hasty party about 30 mins to get to the scene up a very steep hillside and to set up a basic safety system and to start to treat the casualty all the while the lad was talking to his mum.The rest of the team went up the hill heavy with just about all the kit you coud imagine to deal with the situation. The rescue helicopter form Prestwick, Rescue 199, was deployed and came in to help deploying its winchman to assist with the packaging.It takes a while to deal with this sort of situation and the lady was very lucky she stopped where she did as a large drop awaited below. After her injuries were treated the best we could in the situation she was ready to winch. All the while the lad was with his mum talking to her.Rescue 199 winched the casualty at about 23.00 and whisked her off to Glasgow to hospital. Then we had to assist the rest of the family off the hill. I think the kids went down the hill quicker than some of our team members they were glad to be moving again and everyone was on the road again by 00.30.This was a superb effort by all the Oban MRT team members and Rescue 199 in dealing with a technical rescue on steep ground in the dark. It was challenging to access, difficult medically and a challenging lift for the helicopter. The result is that Mum is doing well in Glasgow.A brave lad who should get an award for his actions. Just getting to his mum was hard then looking after his mother in extreme situation, talking to the police and keeping calm he was amazing.
Posted by Oban Mountain Rescue Team on Wednesday, October 23, 2019
The mother fell into a ravine and the eldest child managed to climb down to her and use her mobile phone to call for help shortly before 8pm, giving the emergency services a description of their location.
Oban MRT said on its Facebook page: “The lad was talking to his mum, reassuring her that help was on the way and keeping her conscious.
“It took our hasty party about 30 mins to get to the scene up a very steep hillside and to set up a basic safety system and to start to treat the casualty, all the while the lad was talking to his mum.”
The woman was later winched from the mountain by a rescue helicopter crew based at Prestwick and taken to hospital in Glasgow where she is said to be doing well.
The team said: “We had to assist the rest of the family off the hill. I think the kids went down the hill quicker than some of our team members.
“This was a superb effort by all the Oban MRT team members and Rescue 199 in dealing with a technical rescue on steep ground in the dark. The result is that mum is doing well in Glasgow.”
They said of the boy: “A brave lad who should get an award for his actions.
“Just getting to his mum was hard, then looking after his mother in extreme situation, talking to the police and keeping calm – he was amazing.”
