Snow hits stricken helicopter for six

Published 7 Jan 2010 16:10 0 Comments

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A HELICOPTER has been hit for six by the wintry weather in the Borders after breaking down during a life-saving emergency at the region's biggest hospital - forcing air ambulances to land on a cricket pitch.

The RAF Sea King chopper had been used to fly a heart attack victim from Peebles to Borders General Hospital near Melrose on Wednesday night.

But the iced-up machine was unable to take off from the hospital's helipad because of the weather and then developed a technical fault.

It has been left stranded in the snow and, as a result, prevented any other helicopters coming into the hospital.

While engineers were working on the stricken chopper on the helipad today (Thursday) another helicopter was forced to use the nearby Melrose Cricket Club ground to land before airlifting a seriously ill baby to Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow.

NHS Borders had been relying on the helicopter for emergency cases due to the conditions on roads in the region following 18 inches of snow on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that a motorist who died in a road accident in the Borders on Wednesday night had collided with a sign and was awaiting the arrival of a recovery truck from the emergency services when his BMW car was hit by a lorry.

The 42-year-old man was parked in the hard shoulder on the A1 near Cockburnspath, Berwickshire, and sitting in his vehicle when a Scania articulated vehicle skidded on the treacherous surface.

The accident happened around 7.45p.m. when snow ploughs were battling to keep the road open.

As a result of the accident the road was closed for eight hours while an investigation took place but police say it is a result of a "tragic set of circumstances."

The victim has been named as Mahmoud Abdel-Fattah, from Dunfermline.

The 36-year-old lorry driver was taken to hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

After Lothian and Borders Police advised on Wednesday not to travel unless in "life and death situations", all roads in the Scottish Borders were passable with care yesterday.

But police were still urging motorists to stay off the road unless their journey was absolutely necessary.

Although a forecast of 10cm of snow overnight did not materialise, the freezing temperatures made the clear-up operation yesterday extremely difficult with hard-pack snow and ice proving difficult to shift.

Temperatures had plummeted to minus 21 in the Borders and as a result grit was not working on the roads.

All 74 schools in the Borders are still closed until Monday at least. Pupils and staff had been due to return after the festive break on Tuesday.

Additional council services have targeted the primary and secondary sites in a bid to ensure they can reopen on that date.

Routine appointments at Borders General Hospital and community hospitals have also been cancelled. Refuse collections in the region have also been cancelled and burial services had to be cancelled on Wednesday.

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