Mountain rescue volunteers responded to a medical emergency with a casualty airlifted from Dartmoor today (Sunday, March 29).

Dartmoor Search & Rescue Team (DSRT) Tavistock received a call from the ambulance service at 2am to help a diabetic in trouble.

The team’s specialist hill team rushed to the scene, the remotest tor on the moor, and a rescue helicopter was summoned to deal with the urgent health issue.

DSRT received a call from South Western Ambulance Service, requesting assistance for a diabetic at Fur Tor who was suffering from low blood sugar.

A DSRT spokesman said: “A full team call-out was initiated to rendezvous at Baggator Gate and an HM Coastguard rescue helicopter was requested to attend due to the urgency of the incident.

“A hasty hill party was deployed toward Fur Tor with a second party readying to take further medical kit and stretcher.”

The helicopter arrived at the casualty site at 3.40am and the casualty was assessed, before being flown to hospital

At the same time DSRT Tavistock was alerted to a separate casualty incident at Wild Tor, by the ambulance service response control room.

The volunteers supported the second casualty and helped co-ordinate the operation on the moor from Baggator Gate. Both casualties were then evacuated by the helicopter.

After a combined three-hour operation (described by DSRT Tavistock as an excellent example of multi-agency co-operation), DSRT Tavistock stood down and personnel and vehicles returned to its Tavistock rescue centre at 05.20.