More than 50 rescuers help find lost walkers

[Daryl]

More than 50 rescuers help find lost walkers retrieved from http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/more_than_50_rescuers_help_find_lost_walkers_1_590458

MORE than 50 rescuers and an RAF helicopter tracked down two missing fell walkers after a 14-hour mass search.

The man and woman, from the Blackburn area, had called for help after they got lost on a Lake District fell in strong winds and heavy rain at 9.45pm on Sunday.

They told Wasdale Mountain Rescue they were on Scafell Pike, but they were eventually found yesterday, just after noon, on Scafell – a completely different mountain.

They were both uninjured.

They were helped off the fell, but the man slipped on wet grass and suffered a lower leg injury.

He was then carried down to the valley and treated by an MRT doctor, before making his own way home to Lancashire.

Fifty-five rescuers were involved in the search, including members of Cockermouth, Duddon and Furness and Keswick mountain rescue teams.

Members of Search and Rescue Dog Association also helped out.

Julian Carradice, Wasdale MRT team leader, said: “At the end of the day, these people were not well equipped and they did not really know where they were going.

“But I don’t want to sound as if I'm complaining. We are volunteers and I would say to any mountain rescuer who complains, ‘if you don’t like it, don’t do it’.

“But at the same time, you have to find the right balance. We are happy to, at the drop of a hat, go to anyone who is going to come to harm, or has come to harm.”