Rescue team had “enough to worry about”

THE two young men whose lives were saved in a dramatic two hour rescue from Benevenagh have been slammed as time wasters after they set out to climb the Mountain in treacherous weather conditions.

The two men, neither of whom is an experienced climber, set out to climb Benevenagh amid weather conditions causing havoc across Northern Ireland without the necessary climbing equipment.

They promptly became stranded on a snow gully high up the Benevenagh cliff-face. Two helicopters, two landrovers, six PSNI Search and Rescue team members and 17 volunteers from North West Mountain Rescue were required to save the lives of the two young men.

Joe Dowdall from North West Mountain Rescue said that the volunteer organisation, many of whom miss work to take part in the rescue operations or do so in their spare time, has had “enough to worry about recently” without having to deal with two ill-equipped, inexperienced climbers foolishly setting out to climb Benevenagh amid adverse weather conditions.

After police received an emergency call last week, an Irish Army Air Corps Helicopter, which had been in Northern Ireland helping with animal relief to farmers because of the adverse weather conditions, was used to take two PSNI Search and Rescue team (SAR) members from Belfast to the scene.

The two SAR team members were transported from Belfast City Airport to the top of the gully, which was heavy with snow and ice.

One of the members of the rescue team abseiled down to the two climbers who were in a very precarious position on the mountain. The two men were secured and they were winched to safety in the helicopter where they were given immediate care.

A second team of three PSNI SAR members, who were training, were picked up at Newcastle and also transported to the scene by an Irish Coastugard helicopter to provide additional resoruces.

In addition, the North West Mountain Rescue were also tasked and they provided Landrover support to the mountain and the two climbers were then transferred over to them, uninjured, to be returned to their car, for their return journey home.

The entire operation was over in two hours, which a police spokesperson said was “made possible through the close working relationship between the different rescue organisations.”

Joe Dowdall from North West Mountain Rescue said: “We were contacted by the PSNI at about ten-past-three in the afternoon. After the helicopter arrived, they managed to get two members of the PSNI Search and Rescue team airlifted down to them to get them secured.

“The team then assembled. As you can imagine, we are all volunteers and we are coming from all over with people getting out of work and things like that, so it took some time. We got two landrovers there, with 17 people deployed in total. By this time the police had managed to set them down at Benevenagh Lake.

“We got them into one of the landrovers with the snow tyres. They were okay. They were shaken up, cold and miserable but we got them transported down to their car and they were none-the-worse. That’s what we like to see.

“They weren’t experienced climbers. They were not well equipped. What they were doing in that weather I don’t know. You are talking about six people from the PSNI and 17 volunteers in a major operation.

“Also, considering the fact that this has been our ninth call-out in six days so we have had enough to worry about recently. We have been very busy recently with operations related to the snow.

“The number of people going out to check on livestock and not coming back, people cut off with no food, we have been out with the ambulance service to help them get to an elderly lady who was injured and stranded with the bad weather. There were 33 people stuck on a coach near Ballypatrick Forest who we had to rescue.

“To give you some idea of perspective, we had 32 call outs altogether in the past 21 months. So far, to the end of March we have had 18. To pay for all that, we have the volunteers. We fundraise, collect in the streets, people give us donations. Sport NI have been very good, they have helped us get the snow tyres and snow boots.

“We very much appreciate all the people who do support us and all the employers who are understanding about letting our volunteers get out of work.”