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UK climber saved after dangling for 3 hours

The 28-year-old endured an agonising wait when he got his hand firmly wedged in the hole

The Mirror

BANGOR, Wales — A climber was stuck hanging from a rope with his arm jammed in a crevice for more than three hours yesterday.

The 28-year-old endured an agonising wait when he got his hand firmly wedged in the hole after using it to steady himself when he slipped just a few feet.

Three of his friends struggled for an hour to free him but in the end gave up and were forced to call emergency services.

A mountain rescue team arrived shortly after, followed by firefighters and a helicopter carrying explosives, chisels and hammers.

They gave the victim morphine for his pain and were able free his arm using grease.

He was then winched aboard a specialist RAF Sea King helicopter based at Valley, in Anglesey, and then transferred to hospital in Bangor, Gwynedd.

Ian Henderson, spokesman for the Llanberis Mountain Rescue team, said : “The arm was greased with jelly and ice was used to cool it down before we were eventually able to free it from the crevice.”

The man, from Aberdyfi, Gwynedd, was attempting a climb known as Noah’s Warning, 1,000ft up Dinas Cromlech, above the Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia.

A rambler in his 50s injured his head and legs in a 30ft fall from the mountain earlier this month. He lost his footing when a rock came away his hand.

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