Scouts acted as casualties during the exercise. Photo: Keswick MRT

Lake District mountain rescuers were called upon to deal with an incident where a group of youths had stolen a minibus and driven it up a fell, resulting in numerous injuries.

The improbable event was a training exercise in which Scouts from Keswick acted as casualties for the town’s mountain rescue team.

The drill on Cat Bells was designed to test team members’ ability to deal with a major incident involving numerous casualties.

Members of the youth group acted as casualties in the mocked-up exercise.

A team spokesperson said: “The scenario – albeit wildly improbable – was a group of youths had stolen a minibus and somehow driven recklessly up Cat Bells shedding passengers left right and centre.

“Keswick team raced up the fell with the usual equipment to this scene of carnage with bodies scattered all over.

“When faced with multiple casualties it is important to identify as quickly as possible those with most urgent medical needs; this is called triage.

“As part of the exercise all team members had to experience triaging, visiting each casualty and based on certain observations make a very quick assessment to assign a priority number: P0 for the deceased; P1 for those with life-threatening injuries; through P2 down to P3 for the walking wounded.

“Once an overall assessment of the situation had been made small teams were sent to deal with the most urgent cases then working through casualties all the way until everyone was taken care of.”

The spokesperson said Keswick MRT only occasionally has to deal with young people.

“Smaller people’s requirements can be different to those of an adult so this was very useful practice.

“The Scouts performed their roles brilliantly which, combined with suitably gory make up, made for a realistic scenario. There were two P1s – highest priority – identified, who required immediate life-saving care and rapid helicopter evacuation. Much to the disappointment of the Scouts we weren’t able to borrow any helicopters for this practice.

“A huge thank you to Keswick Scouts for helping out. Hopefully they enjoyed the practice too and were inspired to potentially become involved with the team in a few years’ time.”