A SPANIEL named Rock had to be rescued after falling 18ft down a mineshaft.

The drama was one of several incidents involving the Cleveland Mountain Rescue team this afternoon (Monday).

At 1pm the team was told about the Cocker Spaniel which had plunged down the shaft on the moors near New Row in Kildale, North Yorkshire.

The dog’s owner, from Kildale, could hear him whimpering, but could not reach him.

He contacted North Yorkshire Police, which in turn alerted the volunteer rescue team.

Fifteen members assisted in the rescue, which involved someone being lowered into the mineshaft on a rope and scooping up the dog and putting him into a rucksack.

The rescuer and dog were then hauled out of the shaft by the rest of the team and Rock was reunited with his grateful owner.

As the dog rescue was taking place the team was told by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service that a 54-year- old woman from Filey, North Yorkshire, had injured herself on one of the tracks leading up to Roseberry Topping, near Great Ayton.

Members of the team were quickly redirected to Newton Under Roseberry and assisted the Yorkshire Ambulance personnel in treating the woman before she was carried on a mountain rescue stretcher about a kilometre to the waiting ambulance.

She was then taken to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough for treatment. A total of 24 team members were involved in an incident that lasted around two hours.

Team spokesman, Pete Mounsey said: “It was a busy afternoon, during which we had to use the range of our equipment and training.”

  •  Are you Rock's owner? Email the newsdesk at newsdesk@nne.co.uk or call 01325-505065.