Emergency services have provided an update after a major rescue operation in a Wiltshire town centre.
As previously reported, multiple emergency crews were deployed to Gladstone Road in Chippenham at around 7.30pm on Friday, March 20.
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed they rescued a female, whose age has not been confirmed, from a concrete River Avon embankment after she fell from a height.
Firefighters from Bradford on Avon Fire Station, who were first on the scene, have since confirmed that the casualty fell around 10 feet, but is now recovering.
The severity of her injuries has not been confirmed by police or the ambulance service.
Multiple technical rescue teams were involved in the operation to extricate the casualty from the embankment.
The plan was initially to use an aerial ladder platform from Swindon as a crane system, in conjunction with technical rescue rope teams, but this was abandoned following a risk assessment.
Water rescue measures were implemented by emergency crews because the embankment was so close to the river’s radial gate at Borough Parade, which could have flooded the area where the patient was stuck.
She was eventually packaged into a basket stretcher and a single-line system was established to provide stability and fall protection throughout the operation.
Rescue teams used coordinated manual handling techniques to manoeuvre and assist in casualty care as she was lifted to safety.
Once extricated from the embankment, the female was transferred into a waiting ambulance.
Police provided support during this operation and closed Gladstone Road and the surrounding footpaths for around an hour.
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A spokesperson for the force said: “We were called by the ambulance service to an incident in Gladstone Road, Chippenham, at 7.15pm on March 20.
“Officers assisted with the closure of footpaths within the vicinity and Gladstone Road whilst a rescue operation was conducted. The road reopened just after 8.30pm.”
Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service confirmed the operation was completed shortly before 8.30pm.
A spokesperson added: “We were called at 7:21pm, March 20, with reports of a person falling from height on Gladstone Road, Chippenham.
“Three crews were mobilised, from Swindon, Bradford on Avon and Trowbridge.
“On arrival crews found one female who had fallen down an embankment onto a concrete area.
“A technical rescue team was requested from Avon FRS to assist with the extrication of the casualty using technical rescue equipment and worked with other agencies to bring the casualty to safety. Our stop was in at 8:23pm.”
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