Stranded dad’s moors rescue

AGONY: months of rehabilitation await Dave McDonald

AN injured walker has pleaded with hoax callers to come to their senses after an horrific ordeal on the Saddleworth moors.

Mossley dad Dave McDonald suffered agonising fractures to his leg after a dislodged boulder crushed his ankle during a family day out.

Two recent hoax calls caused Oldham Mountain Rescue to doubt whether it was a real emergency — but the team responds to every call and managed to reach the stranded walker.

A family exploration with his 10-year-old daughter, mother-in- law and dogs sounded like a perfect day for Dave as he set off for a hike around the Saddleworth reservoirs on Sunday, September 4.

Yet a relaxing outing turned to a nightmare when a rock tumbled down an embankment and smashed his foot.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Dave (30) said: “I spun around and hopped on my left foot, I could see my right foot was facing the wrong way. It didn’t hurt at first, I wasn’t screaming in pain but I knew I needed help.”

His mother-in-law Margaret and daughter Aliesha set off walking for a mile to get help and obtain a phone signal, but struggled to pi-point their location during muffled calls to the emergency services.

The search-and-rescue helicopter was dispatched — which Dave, and a caring local who had stopped to help him, could see in the distance, hovering in the wrong area.

A scrum of 18 heroic volunteers from Oldham Mountain Rescue set out to find him, with rescue dog Bob leading the search. They tracked him down two hours later — as Dave was considering tearing down a tree to use as a splint.

Dave said: “I’d gone into shock, I was shaking and my fingers had gone blue.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been as pleased to see someone in my life.

“They did a phenomenal job getting me down from that hill, if they hadn’t have come I could have slipped into shock and died or had to have my leg amputated.

“Words cannot describe how grateful I am.

“God forbid they would have called off the search.”

Stretchered down from the Birchen Clough gulley, Dave was then seen by a paramedic and taken to the Royal Oldham Hospital.

Mick Nield, leader of the mountain rescue team, said: “Problems can stem from the initial 999 calls, especially if the person doesn’t really know exactly where they are.

“We didn’t have a clue where they were. About half-an-hour i, we thought it may have been a hoax call.

“But we never stand down and it paid off.”

The dramatic rescue mission follows two hoax calls around the Dovestone area, one involving fire crews called to reports of someone struggling in the reservoir.

Dave braved a second bout of surgery yesterday to help heal multiple fractures to his ankle. He now gaces months of medical rehabilitation.

he said: “Hoax callers could cost someone their life one day; they need to know how dangerous their actions are.

“From the people that stopped to help me to the rescue team themselves, I am confident they saved my life.”