Fourth call-out in four days for Mayo Mountain Rescue

IT'S been a busy week for Mayo Mountain Rescue as they responded to their fourth call-out in four days yesterday afternoon.

Assistance was sought at 3.30 p.m. on Thursday after a man sustained a head injury from a fall while descending Croagh Patrick.

As his location was unknown and he could not be reached by phone, two first responders were sent to the back of the Reek to search the track from that side, and two more to Murrisk to search the pilgrim path.

The first responders on the Murrisk side met the man walking down with his daughter. In the meantime, Malin Head Coast Guard Rescue 118 was able to trace the initial call and give location coordinates.

Shortly after, Coast Guard Rescue 115, who had also been tasked, arrived on the scene.

Following an assessment of the casualty by the mountain rescue nurse and a discussion with R115, it was decided to walk the man off the mountain with support from mountain rescue personnel to a HSE ambulance.

The previous afternoon, the rescue team responded to assist another man who had taken a fall halfway down the cone of the mountain and sustained a head injury.

He was treated by the R115 medic and airlifted, with help from MMRT first responders, and brought to Mayo University Hospital.

Earlier in the week a woman suffered a fall and a minor head injury on the cone, 20 minutes from the top. She was able to walk off with her companions, meeting the rescue team at the bottom of the mountain where she was looked after by a waiting ambulance.