This was the agonising eight-hour rescue for a woman injured while canyoning in Andalucía

The Guardia Civil's specialist GREIM rescue unit has carried out a laborious rescue after a young canyoner injured her back when she jumped into a pool in the Verde river gorge, above Almuñécar, in the Granada province of Andalucía. Mountain rescue specialists tried to reach her by helicopter, but the strong winds in the area made it impossible, so they had to access the area on foot and, after extracting her from the accident site, transport her on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance, which took them a total of eight hours.

It was just after midday on 27 August when the Guardia Civil in Granada received a report that a canyoner had had an accident while descending the Verde river. Two specialists from the GREIM immediately set off to reach the rescue site on board the group's helicopter. But the pilots had to leave them, not without considerable difficulty, on a road outside the rescue area because the strong winds prevented safe access to the gorge.

The GREIM unit also used an all-terrain vehicle carrying specific material for this type of operation. Once the injured woman was located, she was immobilised with a spinal board due to a suspected neck injury and strapped on a stretcher.

The rescue specialists had to use a combination of different techniques using ropes and pulleys to move the victim up the gorge to access a path. Finally, an ambulance was able to transfer her to Motril hospital.