Washing up liquid saves schoolgirl trapped on Hound Tor rocks
Cave rescuers have hailed a bottle of washing-up liquid as a “real hero” after he used it to save a schoolgirl stuck on rocks for more than four hours.
Shannon, 11, was climbing over rocks on a boarding school trip when her leg got stuck between huge granite boulders at Hound Tor on Dartmoor, Devon.
Devon Cave Rescue Organization (DCRO) joined emergency services at the scene on Tuesday as rescuers scrambled to save the girl.
Team leader Olly Rees bought a bottle of Fairy washing up liquid while on the road and this “made all the difference” as they were able to use it as lubricant to get Shannon free.
“We have a unique skill set; small, tight gaps that allow us to be successful at what we do,” he said BBC.
“I was going up and I heard someone was stuck in a little rock gap, and you don’t really know what that means until you go up there and look.
“We already had other team members on the road with various specialized equipment to widen gaps and break rocks etc., but I just stopped and bought a bottle of fairy liquid from the gas station on the way into the countryside.”
Although his leg was “stuck pretty tightly” in a rock crevice, he added: “We applied it liberally to the leg to make it as slippery as possible to help it get out. That made a big difference.”
The rescue team signed the bottle and gave it to Shannon, who was uninjured, for safekeeping.
“Some people in my group went fast and then my friend said there was a stand you could put your foot on, but then my foot slipped into the hole and I got stuck,” Shannon explained.
“I didn’t know if I was going to go out and I wanted my mom.”
Mr Rees urged other rescue teams to add home essentials to their kits, adding: “Everyone there, all the surface crews, fire crews, Devon Doctors and the air ambulance were thinking ‘we should have some of this too’ so it’s not just our secret anymore.”
DCRO added: “While rescue equipment, technical skills and teamwork all played their part, the real hero of the day may have been a bottle of Fairy fluid and this proved invaluable in bringing the incident to a successful conclusion.
“A great example of multi-agency collaboration and a happy ending for a young adventurer.”
