Climber airlifted to hospital after 20ft fall

A climber in her 30s was airlifted after falling 20ft near Llangollen. The woman suffered serious injuries after plunging down a sheer drop at Offa's Dyke on Sunday. She was flown to the major trauma unit at Stoke on Trent Royal Infirmary by an RAF rescue helicopter from Valley in Anglesey.

North East Wales Search and Rescue team were also called out. In Snowdonia a woman fell while 500ft up the north ridge of Tryfan, hitting a friend on the way down who then tumbled into his partner below him.

The group of walkers, two couples in their 50s and 60s, from Runcorn and Warrington, were climbing the 3,000ft peak on Saturday afternoon.

Chris Lloyd of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team said that the woman "lost her footing, bounced twice and fell 50ft into her friend, who then fell 20ft and then wiped his wife out".

He said: "The lady was lucky to be alive. She suffered arm, leg and pelvic injuries, and a laceration to her head and I think had a minor fracture."

The woman who fell 50ft was left with cuts to her head and an injured arm, leg and pelvis. The man was briefly knocked unconscious and left with cuts to his head, while his wife had an ankle injury.

Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue team reached the group before the RAF Valley Sea King helicopter winched all three off the mountain and took them to to hospital in Bangor.

In separate incidents on the same day the mountain rescue team and rescue helicopters also helped a Bristol woman with a dislocated shoulder and treated another woman, from Ecuador, who fell and injured her ankle.

Several people got lost while walking at the weekend as well. On Saturday at Tryfan, a couple was rescued after getting lost, and three walkers were rescued from the Brecon Beacons on Friday after getting lost as night fell. The three men, all in their early 20s, lost their way in the mist and were said to have had no way of navigating in the poor visibility.