Heavy snow prevented an RAF helicopter landing two mountain casualties at three south Wales hospitals before it finally touched down at a fourth.
The helicopter was called to the Brecon Beacons to airlift a 70-year-old man with a leg injury and hypothermia, and a mountain rescuer with a head wound. But the weather meant it could not land in Merthyr, Cardiff or Llantrisant.The helicopter from RAF Chivenor, Devon, eventually left the patients at Morriston Hospital, Swansea.
The drama began on Friday as heavy snow swept across Wales, and members of the Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team were called to a light aircraft crash just below Pen y Fan, south Wales' highest mountain.
As it turned out, the team were not needed after the pilot freed himself. But shortly afterwards they and members of other rescue teams were called to another incident just below Pen y Fan, where a man had injured his leg. Huw Jones, of the Central Beacons team, said it took about five hours to reach and rescue him at about 1830 GMT. During the operation a rescuer slipped and suffered a head injury.
The helicopter was on standby at Swansea Airport and during a small break in the weather it was called in and landed on the closed road between Storey Arms and Merthyr to brief the crew. Rescuers praised "an incredible bit of flying" by the helicopter to reach the casualties in conditions they described as "more like Alaska than south Wales".
"In all my years in mountain rescue, I struggle to say when I remember seeing a helicopter crew flying in those conditions," said Mr Jones.But the crew was forced to abort attempts to land at the nearest hospital, Prince Charles in Merthyr, and then at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and the Royal Glamorgan in Llantrisant, before finally managing it at Morriston.
The 70-year-old man was treated for a broken leg and the mountain rescuer was sent home with concussion.Mr Jones said the weather forecast for coming days brought higher risks for walkers, and said they should take crampons and an ice axe.
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