A Perth father has paid tribute to rescuers and his 12-year-old daughter’s bravery after the girl was lifted to safety from a gorge near House of Bruar.
Carpenter Adam Storrar, 31, was on a family trip with outdoor adventure company Nae Limits when daughter Emma landed badly after jumping into a pool of water during a canyoning expedition on Sunday afternoon.
Adam helped the two Nae Limits guides get Emma out of the water, where she was later lifted to safety in a rope rescue carried out by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Tayside Mountain Rescue Team.
“I jumped off the rock just before her and when she came up from the water I noticed she was in distress and I managed to float her over to where it was firmer ground and try and calm her down,” he said.
“I didn’t know how bad the knee was at that stage. As much pain as she was in, she held her own and told us what was sore and where. She was laughing and joking most of the time and trying to make the most of it.”
He said the rescue services did a “fantastic job”.
“They anchored off one of the trees at the top and two men abseiled down the cliff and attached a rope to her and carried her up the steep cliff.
“Everyone knew what they were doing and Emma seemed well looked after. I was a bit scared. I managed to keep my cool until they were there and then it all dawned on me what was happening.”
He said Emma was recovering from her ordeal.
“She’s curled up on the couch and not very mobile. We were up at accident and emergency yesterday and they don’t think it’s too serious.”
He said the accident wouldn’t stop the family from going canyoning in future.
“I would spend my money with the company again in a second. They were excellent,” he added.
Dale Strang, 28, Nae Limits operations manager, went down to the gorge to help after learning of Emma’s injury.
He said Emma was “laughing and giggling” during the “picture perfect” rescue.
“We did everything possible. It the nature of adventure sports that these things can sometimes happen. We will have a review and see if there are any lessons that can be learned.”
Councillor Xander McDade, who has been working to improve water safety in the area, said there was a “great relief” the girl was rescued safely and that her injuries were not serious.
“We have more than our fair share of these sorts of incidents. Any time there is a happy ending it is not a good news story, but a great one.”
He said the location of the accident, rather than the severity of the injury, meant mountain rescue had to be called.
“It doesn’t seem that there is anything that could have been done to prevent the accident in this instance. The group here had done everything that they should have done and were with experienced, professional guides.”
