THE 9,000th mission has been flown by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance (HIOWAA).

On Saturday, November 2, Dr Amy Andrew, Dr Tim Nicholson-Roberts, specialist critical care paramedic Louise Wigmore and Capt Dave Nicholls, took to the skies from the charity airbase at Thruxton to respond to the milestone mission.

HIOWAA chief executive Alex Lochrane said: "While I recognise the tremendous achievement of having flown 9,000 missions, I must remind myself that every time the air ambulance is called out, we are responding to someone in a potentially critical condition who requires urgent treatment before they reach hospital.

"As an independent charity, we just could not do this without the support of our local community.”

HIOWAA began operations in July 2007 and in July this year the charity recorded its busiest month to date, with 244 call-outs.

The life-saving charity has responded to 1,887 missions across the region so far this year.

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