The Guardia Civil, mountain-rescue team was called out to rescue a climber who had suffered an accident whilst scaling the canyon below Vélez-Benaudalla.

The name of the impressive canyon through which the N-323 passes is El Tajo de los Vados and its vertical sides attract climbers from far and wide. There are even iron rungs that go up the face for the more cautious but the more adventurous practice free climbing; no ropes.

Anyway, two climbers were climbing a face of the gorge when one of them fell some ten metres and was injured around 19.30h on the 5th. The other was left dangling on his rope unable to help. The cliff face in question is known as the Pared de la Virgen.

The emergency, call centre despatched an ambulance, the Motril fire service, the Guardia Civil and the mountain rescue team (SEREIM) as well as a helicopter.

The injured climber had luckily come to a rest on a ledge some way up which sloped down slightly. At first, the helicopter tried to get close enough to rest a runner but there was not enough room for rotor clearance, so instead the pilot ascended and cleared the top in order to lower rescuesr on a life line down onto the ledge

Once on the ledge, they were able to immobilise the open fracture in a femur, as well as a fractured hip and winch him to safety below

Things were made more difficult owing to the encroaching dusk which would limit the amount of time that the helicopter had to complete the operation. It wasn’t until 22.00h that the helicopter landed on the helipad belonging to the PTS hospital in Granada.

(News: Velez de Benaudalla, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)