'Long and complicated rescue' after 30ft fall in Cork city

Three units of Cork City Fire Brigade performed what was described as “a long and complicated rescue” of a 43-year-old man who had fallen more than 30ft from Rope Walk in Sunday’s Well.

Following a two-hour rescue operation in poor weather conditions, the man was brought to Cork University Hospital (CUH), where he was treated for what have been described as serious injuries.

The alarm was raised just before 8pm on Saturday, when firefighters responded to a call from the National Ambulance Service to assist in the rescue of a man who had been missing for a number of hours after suffering a fall.

It is understood that the man had been out walking his dog when he fell down a sheer drop of more than 30ft onto waste ground.

The man suffered serious injuries and needed to be rescued without compounding those injuries.

Deciding to deploy their recently acquired Rosenbauer hydraulic platform, firefighters accessed the site from the car park of UCC’s North Mall campus.

Tadgh O’Mahony, third officer with Cork City Fire Brigade, said that firefighters used the platform to gain access to the man and bring him to safety in a basket stretcher.

“We brought a paramedic with us to administer pain relief along the way, and we were able to bring him into the distillery car park, which is below Sunday’s Well,” Mr O’Mahony said.

“It was a long and complicated rescue, because we had to be very careful with him, he had to be put onto a vacuum mattress as he had some very serious injuries, but thankfully we got him to safety as soon as we could, and the National Ambulance then brought him to CUH.” 

Mr O’Mahony said the operation concluded just before 10pm, with responders working in very poor weather conditions.

Three units of Cork City Fire Brigade, consisting of 10 firefighters, and four advanced paramedics from the National Ambulance Service, were in attendance, as well as a number of gardaí. Mr O’Mahony said it was “a great example of inter-agency co-operation”.