Mobile phone tracking used to find two walkers lost in Northumberland

Late on Saturday night, August 15, volunteers from Northumberland National Park and North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Teams were called out to assist the pair who had become disorientated after descending Cheviot in poor visibility.

Quickly realising their mistake, they contacted Northumbria Police, who then called mountain rescue.

Northumberland National Park Team Leader Iain Nixon said efforts to trace the pair had been hampered by poor mobile phone reception in the area.

“Given the poor mobile signal, we only had limited information about their intended route,” he siad.

The teams were able to establish a fix using a smartphone location tool called PhoneFind, which placed the pair between Wooler Common and the College Valley below Broadhope Hill.

“Once we knew their location, we set about deploying a hasty team in one of our team vehicles to Commonburn House whilst North of Tyne Team sent one of their Land Rovers towards the College valley,” said Iain.

“We were very grateful to have the assistance of the head keeper from the Lilburn Estates who helped us move to the walkers’ location in one of their argocat vehicles.”

After an initial medical assessment, the pair were given some additional warm clothing and evacuated to a waiting rescue vehicle and then on to their car.

Iain said the pair had done the right thing: “In poor visibility it is easy to take a wrong turn. Once they realised, they did exactly the right thing by dialing 999, asking for Police and then mountain rescue.

This meant there was a relatively swift and successful outcome for the pair.” Iain concluded.

The incident involved six Team members for just over three hours, with a further 12 members on standby.

Both rescue team are keen to encourage people who are going out into the hills to follow the AdventureSmart advice when planning a journey.

Guidance can be found at adventuresmart.uk

If you would like to make a donation to the teams, visit their facebook pages or websites www.nnpmrt.org and www.notmrt.org.uk.

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