A TEENAGE girl on an outdoor activity training exercise was helped by the Tavistock Dartmoor Search and Rescue Group last week.

The group was also called into action last weekend when a 31-year-old man also had to be evacuated by stretcher after he too fell and fractured his ankle.

The girl slipped and fell, injuring her right hip and was unable to walk any further.

The Tavistock branch of the rescue group was called by local police who had been called by the ambulance service.

The girl, aged 15, was on a Duke of Edinburgh Award training hike, near the East Dart River.. The team, including a doctor, took a stretcher and reached her within 20 minutes of being alerted.

They assessed her and placed her carefully onto the stretcher safely and securely. They carried her over the open moorland and clambered under a tree fallen in the high winds over their path, before handing her over to the waiting ambulance, about two hours after being called out. She was taken to hospital and discharged last week.

Two paramedics from the ambulance service also attended at the scene after walking from their vehicle. They administered pain relief, which the rescue group is not qualified to do.

Paul Hudson, attended the scene for the volunteer rescue group and oversaw the rescue. He said: ‘Luckily the weather was good, the earlier rain had disappeared and the wind had died. The deployment was straight forward with support from the two paramedics who walked to the scene from their ambulance, rather than wait for us.

‘They gave her an analgesic which we’re not allowed to do. The girl was fine, but had cooled down while she was waiting. She cheered up and was warmer once we’d put her inside the insulated bag for casualties. The team then chatted to her as they carried her and explained what was happening as they went along to reassure her.

‘The only challenge was a fallen tree. We had to take two wheels off the stretcher and go underneath.’

The girl, from a Southampton school, was said to be recovering well at the weekend.

The male walker was attended in only half an hour by the Tavistock rescue group’s stretcher party.

A group spokesman said: ‘Ambulance personnel splinted the fractured limb and administered analgesia before we stretchered him to be transferred into the ambulance to Derriford hospital.’

Donations can be made to the Search and Rescue’s new building at: www.justgiving.com/campaign/RescueCentreRebuild