Rescue team members place the injured cyclist on the stretcher at the scene in Gisburn Forest. Photo: Bowland Pennine MRT

A teenager was injured at a popular mountain biking venue when his machine split in half, causing him to fall.

Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team was called out at 2pm on Saturday when the 16-year-old was hurt on the Hope Line in Gisburn Forest in Lancashire.

The team was undertaking fundraising activities ‘rattling tins’ in Chorley when the request for help came from the North West Ambulance Service.

The incident happened on the advanced section of the forest.

A team spokesperson said: “Once Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue had arrived on scene they quickly assessed the young man and determined he had potential hip and pelvis injuries.

“Carrying out immediate casualty care and placing him in to a vacuum mattress, the rescue team then loaded him on to a mountain rescue stretcher and carried him to the nearby air ambulance which had flown from Manchester.

“The young mountain biker was then airlifted to the Royal Preston Hospital for further treatment.”

The rescue involved 24 members of the team.

An hour-and-a-half after standing down from the Gisburn Forest rescue, the team received a request for help from Lancashire police for a search for a missing 43-year-old man from the Preston area.

The spokesperson said: “After six hours of extensive searching the missing person was not located. The missing person was later located safe and well the following morning.”

The search, involving 18 Bowland Pennine MRT volunteers, ended at 11pm.

The rescue team has now been called out 33 times during 2017 with eight standbys. The spokesperson added: “This is the busiest the team has ever been.”