Emergency teams are working to rescue a youth who has become trapped in a void behind a wall at Northwood Park this evening (Monday).
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service is in attendance at Baring Road, at the stepped entrance to Northwood Park, where it is understood a young female has fallen into the 20ft void which sits behind the arched facade – known locally as ‘the pit’.
Firefighters, alongside colleagues from the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service and Police, are working to free the female casualty having been alerted to the emergency shortly before midnight.
It is understood that she has been unable to extricate herself from the void and is thought to be suffering from injuries.
Firefighters from Newport and Cowes are using an Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP) to provide a safe working and rescue space in the air above the void, with other crews working on the small ledge.
Castle Hill, Castle Road and a stretch of Baring Road have been closed to allow emergency services to work safely.
UPDATE @ 00:16 – Firefighters have used ladders to gain access to the small area of space behind the facade of the grade II listed archway building, which dates back to 1841.
3 flights of stairs lead through the archway to one of Northwood Park’s pathways, with walls at either side of the stairs. A fenced platform sits at the top of the building, with signs warning of a large drop.
Teams are erecting a rope system using the Aerial Ladder Platform’s cage as a weight bear to allow them to pull the casualty up using a pulley-type arrangement.
The condition of the casualty remains unknown, but an ambulance is on standby at the scene with paramedics waiting to tend to them at such a time as they have been extricated. A paramedic officer is also in attendance.
UPDATE @ 01:20 – Firefighters in the void have packaged the casualty into a stretcher and teams have pulled them up to the height of the retaining wall. She has now been passed into the care of waiting paramedics and is expected to be conveyed to St Mary’s Hospital for treatment.
It is understood that the casualty was with a group of friends when she fell into the void.
UPDATE @ 01:55 – Emergency services have now stood down from the scene with Baring Road, Castle Hill and Castle Road now re-open.
Only in January were emergency crews last at Northwood Park performing an almost identical rescue of a 16-year-old male who had also fallen into ‘the pit’, despite fences and signs warning of the deep and dangerous drop.
Isn’t it about time the pit had a weldmesh roof put over it. People are getting trapped in there far too often. Surely the cost of roofing it over is cheaper than having to rescue people from the pit.
Or maybe people could take responsibility for their actions, and actually obey the warning signs around the area!
Isn’t it time we wrapped our kids in cotton wool? Kids will be kids, there are many signs which they clearly ignored. How do you think we deal with culver cliffs a mesh system around the entire length and maybe a 6ft wall either side of the medina?
Leave it as is. It provides excellent training for the emergency services.
Shame the kids can’t read!
Agree with these comments; wire mesh is surely the way to go, or do the Council wait for a fatality?
If they can read that sign, its self harm, 6 weeks in you know where. That said i hope they are ok and able to reflect on their recklessness. Time to isolate that pit permanently.
‘when she fell into the void’ This makes it sound accidental when, in fact, you have to climb over fences and ignore warning signs to get to it. Yes, it could be covered over but you can’t cover over every single danger. There’s people out there who will always find stupid things to do and if its not this gap behind the facade then it would be something else.
Leave them kids alone..Terrafirma has only one lesson and this girl has now passed that class, good to see kids still being kids and not on xboxes, hope shes ok, bet her mates laughed..
100% agree. The point of being a kid is to make stupid mistakes.
Leave the kids alone. The point of being a kid is to make stupid mistakes. It’s why as a society that we pay taxes to have the emergency services. Not had a proper childhood if you’ve not ended up in A&E with something broken or needing stitches.
Too much falling ‘down’ water maybe??? Hope nothing too serious in the way of injuries.
This pit needs a grill over it asap. The amount of money spent rescuing people from it’s depths not to mention the injuries they sustain make this a matter of urgency.
If she is stupid enough to go near the wall let her take the consequences
It was an accident, kids are kids! And the consequence would have been her death or loss of her leg!?
Should have left her there. That would teach her, I’m sure some of her friends would have soon got their families round there to get her out, she wouldn’t have been there long, Why should public money always have to be spent on idiots?
It was clearly an accident?? These things happen, if it was possible for her family members to have gotten her out by themselves then there wouldn’t have been a crane at the scene? Not to mention she was losing allot of blood so the ambulance was needed on scene.
Fill in the void with concrete and make it extra parking for IW councillors. Also; I can’t wait for the wartime defences of our coastline to come back. Barbed wire, anti-tank traps, severed piers, and the like… Too many people getting into mischief in the sea. The above measures will keep our young people safe.
Haha, yes, I’m reminded of that old Brass Eye episode that got the Daily Mail in a froth years ago, Brass Eye Special Peado Geddon, was so funny. Are your kids safe? Mine are, they’re here in this filing cabinet. What needs to happen nowadays though is that kids should be taught how to be more responsible because too often they get excuses made for them just because they are kids so they think they can do anything and get away with it.