Mayo Mountain Rescue Team (MMRT ) and the other rescue and support services on hand last Sunday for the Reek Sunday pilgrimage assisted eight different pilgrims who got into difficulty on the pilgrimage climb.
The rescue organisation in social media posts on Sunday outlined the assistance they provided during the pilgrimage.
Casualty No. 1: Female casualty assisted to medical tent with fatigue. Treated by Order of Malta Doctor and able to continue walking off by themselves.
Casualty No. 2: Female casualty assessed by Doctor at medical tent for medical issue and able to continue walking down mountain by themselves.
Casualty No. 3: Male casualty assisted to medical tent by mountain rescue personnel, assessed by Doctor and being assisted down off the mountain.
Casualty No. 4: Male Casualty assessed at the medical tent and is being assisted down to the MMRT base by MR personnel, for further assessment by Order of Malta medical personnel at Murrisk.
Casualty No. 5.: Female casualty with ankle injury assessed and treated. Walking off by themselves.
Casualty No. 7: Male casualty suffering from exhaustion, being assessed at medical tent for walk off to MMRT base. Casualty has been stretchered to MMRT base for onward transport by Civil Defence ambulance.
Casualty No. 6: Female casualty suffering from exhaustion at summit of Croagh Patrick, assessed by MR personnel and was stretchered down from the summit to the medical tent where the Order of Malta Doctor and Air Corps medics assessed the casualty. The Irish Air Corps are airlifting the casualty down off the mountain.
Casualty No. 8: Male casualty assessed at medical tent and able to walk down the rest of the mountain unaided.
It wasn't just on Sunday that the rescue team were busy, they were also called to assist climbers on Friday last. Firstly at 3.54pm they were called to assist assist a female walker close to the summit on Croagh Patrick. She had sustained a head injury and was feeling unwell. The MMRT team leader also tasked R118.
A first response team of three were deployed on the hill. Despite the mist on the cone, R118 managed to lower their winchman who assessed the casualty and lifted her quickly into the helicopter. Meanwhile, on the cone, the First Response Team did an about-turn and returned to base! The rest of the team were stood down at 4.33pm.
Not long after the team being stood down from that rescue, the team were tasked by Garda to assist two climbers who were lost on Mweelrea.
The team leader managed to contact the people, who were disoriented in dense fog, and unsure as to where to descend. They had wisely stopped moving and called for help.
A search plan was drawn up by the Team Leader and Deputy Team Leader and a hasty response team deployed, followed by two more groups, prepared to search the mountain.
There was some urgency as the party on the hill were getting extremely cold. Happilly, they were found by the team and after a medical assessment and rewarming and refuelling, the two people managed to walk back down with the rescue team
