A visiting bell ringer at Worcester Cathedral was injured Saturday night when the bell rope got caught around his foot and hoisted him into the air, officials said.
Firefighters had to utilize their rope rescue skills to carefully lower the man down from the bell tower at the historic Anglican cathedral in Worchester, England. The bell ringer was dangling upside-down about 80 feet, according to Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service.
“Technical and challenging job to rescue one male from bell tower, professional crews a credit to the community they serve,” Grant Wills, a group commander for the Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, wrote on Twitter after the incident.
16:57. 1/2 Two crews @HWFireWorcs and specialist rope rescue team from @HWFireMalvern assisted @OFFICIALWMAS by lowering a casualty from …
— HWFireControl (@HWFireControl) February 11, 2017
16:57 2/2. 80 feet up the bell tower of Worcester Cathedral. Casualty injured himself after a fall transported to hospital by @OFFICIALWMAS
— HWFireControl (@HWFireControl) February 11, 2017
Technical and challenging job to rescue one male from bell tower, professional crews a credit to the community they serve pic.twitter.com/vEOxNuUnWk
— Grant Wills (@HWFireGCWills) February 11, 2017
The man was transported to the hospital for head and back injuries, according to the West Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Service Foundation Trust.
A picture taken on Saturday night in the bell tower at #Worcester Cathedral. A visiting bell ringer got his foot caught up in the rope pic.twitter.com/5pc9rQNC5V
— WMAS (@OFFICIALWMAS) February 13, 2017
Unfortunately, he got pulled into the air. Firefighters used their rope rescue skills to lower him the roughly 100ft down to ground. pic.twitter.com/pzk0ZCQwi3
— WMAS (@OFFICIALWMAS) February 13, 2017
He was assessed by ambulance staff before being taken to hospital with head and back injuries. Excellent #teamwork pic.twitter.com/WYuNMJgXqy
— WMAS (@OFFICIALWMAS) February 13, 2017
The bell ringer, identified as 51-year-old Ian Bowman, was visiting the cathedral as part of a tour group from Widecombe-in-the-Moor in Devon, according to Worcester News. Speaking from his home in Widecombe, Bowman told the local British newspaper he may have fractured his back when he caught his foot in the bell rope and fell to the ground.
“I am waiting for a call to see if I have fractured my spine or not,” Bowman told Worcester News. “I want to get my health sorted before I talk about what happened.”
Mark Regan, ringing master at Worcester Cathedral, said Bowman is “an experienced ringer from Devon” and the incident was not caused by any safety issues related to bell ring.
“It was a freak accident,” Regan told Worcester News.
“Emergency services were brilliant. They had been here to practice, so they knew what to do,” he added. “It was quite dramatic.”
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