Incident report

A Buxton & Edale Mountain Rescue snatch squad was called to Edale in the early darkness of Sunday evening.

A couple from the Bedford area, walking on Kinder Scout had telephoned for assistance on becoming benighted. One person had sustained an ankle injury and was unable to walk rendering both cold from inaction. They gave their location as somewhere between Ringing Roger and Madwoman’s Stones on the south eastern side of the Kinder Plateau.

They were using a smart phone which was connected to the internet and had an inbuilt geographical locator. A system known as SARLOC, developed by Russ Hore, was used by search managers to pinpoint the phone’s location. This technology can help to re-check any given details. On this occassion it identified the location as being near Druids Stone, which was indeed between the two points supplied by the distressed party.

Personnel were deployed onto the hill, however due to the reported injuries of the walker and the frosty conditions, an RAF Sea King helicopter evacuation was also requested. The helicopter landed and airlifted the party to Leeds General Infirmary, which was the nearest hospital with a suitable night landing facility.

As far as we are aware, this is the first time that SARLOC has been used operationally in the Peak District. Although successful on this occassion, it should be noted that several factors are required to make this technology work. Therefore, as the comments on this grough magazine article states, you can’t bank on it.