Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team began the new year with two callouts on New Year’s Day, including a call to the Four Waterfalls area where a female walker suffered a scary fall.

Shortly after 9am on New Year’s Day, the team were alerted to their first callout of the year to a young man who had slipped near the top of Pen y Fan sustaining a suspected lower leg fracture.

Assisted by an off duty paramedic and then treated by an MR Remote Rescue Medical Technician, he was provided with medical care prior to being ‘packaged’ and evacuated off the hill via stretcher to the awaiting ambulance.

As this incident was concluding, the team were called upon to a potentially very serious incident by Dyfed-Powys Police for a lady who had reportedly fallen off a cliff in the Four Waterfalls area near one of the waterfalls.

A multi-agency response ensued involving Mountain Rescue, Police, Fire Service, Ambulance and the WAST Hazardous Area Response Team, the BBNP wardens, EMRTS & Welsh Air Ambulance and the Coastguard Search & Rescue Helicopter from St Athan.

The lady had indeed fallen some distance sustaining a number of serious injuries to her arms, ribs, pelvis and legs.

Treated by WAST paramedics, HART and our MR Team Doctor, the lady was provided medical care before being packaged in a vacuum mattress and loaded into a stretcher for an evacuation that was quite involved in parts, eventually being bought out and transferred into the heli-med for an onwards flight to hospital and treatment for her injuries.

A spokesperson for Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team said: “We wish her the very best of luck and a speedy recovery.

“Our thanks also to a number of individuals who were in the area at the time and did their utmost to provide assistance to the lady and her family until the various emergency services arrived.”