Teenage boy critically ill after sledging accident (From The Northern Echo)

Teenage boy critically ill after sledging accident

4:55pm Sunday 20th January 2013 in News

A TEENAGE boy was last night fighting for his life after suffering serious head injuries when he hit a tree while sledging.

The 16-year-old, from Middlesbrough, had been sledging with friends near Flatts Lane Country Park, in Middlesbrough, when the incident happened, at 1.25pm yesterday.

Emergency services were called to the scene and the teenager, suffering from head injuries, was airlifted to The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, by the Great North Air Ambulance.

A spokesman for the air ambulance described the boy’s injuries as lifethreatening, adding: “He was given an anaesthetic at the scene before being transported to the hospital in Middlesbrough in a critical condition.”

In a separate incident, a 40-year-old woman had to be airlifted to hospital after she fell from a fast-moving sledge.

She had been sledging near Great Ayton, North Yorkshire, yesterday afternoon when she injured her leg.

Cleveland Search and Rescue volunteers were called out and treated the woman at the scene, but due to the inaccessible location of the accident, rescue volunteers and Yorkshire Ambulance Service paramedics called in the Great North Air Ambulance to help.

A doctor with the helicopter treated the woman at the scene and she was also airlifted to The James Cook University Hospital.

The snowy weather has also seen a number of incidents in which people have been injured by snowballs.

Officers in Sunderland have received more than 70 reports of youths throwing snowballs at passers-by, cars, and properties.

Darlington police are investigating two incidents where people have been injured after being struck by snowballs.

A spokesman for Darlington police confirmed officers had not made any arrests, but were treating any snowrelated offences seriously.

He said: “If we see anyone damaging cars or injuring people with snowballs, we will look at them exactly the same as we would any other anti-social behaviourIt will not be tolerated.

The weekend’s police warnings come after a bus passenger suffered minor bruising when a driver braked sharply after youths threw snowballs at his cab in Front Street, Pelton, near Chester-le- Street.

The neighbourhood policing team in Crook, County Durham, said officers will arrest anyone causing a danger to motorists by throwing snowballs at vehicles.

Inspector Paul Stewart, from Sunderland Area Command, said: “It is easy to turn a topic like this into a joke and shrug it off, but people have genuine concerns.

“It’s not nice to be driving along and for a flurry of snowballs to hit your windscreen or be an elderly person hit by a snowball while walking home or to the shops.

“If we receive reports of incidents involving snowballs being thrown at people or property, potentially causing damage or injury, then appropriate action will be taken.

“The people throwing snowballs need to have a little consideration for others.”