Man’s dramatic rescue from 25ft pit
Published: June 6, 2007
A BT engineer had to be rescued after falling 25ft down a shaft. The man was working in the Fox Hill area of Wanborough in England when he plunged into a disused underground reservoir.
He managed to dial 999 from his mobile phone.
Members of the Mountain Rescue worked alongside 20 firefighters to winch out the injured 36-year-old.
The Wiltshire Air Ambulance was also sent to the scene.
The engineer, from Faringdon, was conscious but suffered leg and shoulder injuries.
He had been working on a mast near the Ridgeway when he fell down the hole, which was covered in undergrowth, in a wooded area.
He was using a piece of kit to track an underground telephone line when the ground gave way.
He fell into a concrete tank measuring 33ft wide by 82ft high.
PC Simon Talbot said that the engineer fell 25ft down the manhole into the empty cavern.
“He managed to alert the emergency services using his mobile phone and he was winched to safety by the fire brigade.
“He was subsequently conveyed to the Great Western Hospital where he is being dealt with for non life-threatening injuries.”
The incident happened not far from the Shepherd’s Rest pub, at noon yesterday and the operation took less than an hour.
Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service station manager Ian Jeary said his team had worked well to get the injured man out quickly.
“It was a specialist rescue operation from a confined space and a considerable height,” he said.
“We had a specialist rope rescue unit from Chippenham and appliances from Stratton and the emergency support unit from Swindon.
“We used a series of pulleys and put him on a stretcher.
“We strapped him in and hauled him up.
“It’s another example of the modern fire service at work, using specialist technical skills to rescue the casualty.
“He has gone to hospital. He has fallen 20ft odd so he has injuries commensurate with a fall.
“He has suspected broken limbs but we won’t know more until he gets checked out at hospital.”
BT spokesman Chris Orum said: “It’s quite a nasty fall and his family have been contacted.
“He was walking along and the ground gave way beneath him.”
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: