Incident report

Following a call for assistance received by the police, two Controllers attached to Buxton were called to assist a couple from the West Midlands who had become lost during a circular walk on Kinder Scout. We were able to talk to them via their mobile phone. They had set off from Hayfield and walked onto the western edge of Kinder Scout. At Kinder Downfall they followed a river into the middle of the moor, which is featureless and were now by a group of rocks looking down into a steep sided valley, everything was covered in snow. They were not dressed to withstand the wintry conditions and were becoming very cold and concerned. Buxton, Edale and SARDA were on standby to undertake a search if required.
The North Midlands Police Helicopter became available and offered assistance. Following our conversation with them we ascertained the two missing persons location was on the Southern Edge of Kinder Scout, near to the Woolpacks. The missing people had a camera with a flash facility and we asked them to use when they could hear the helicopter approaching. We advised the helicopter crew of their likely location and that they would be using a camera flash to attract their attention.
The police helicopter flew directly to the Woolpacks and located the two missing persons by their camera flash. The aircraft landed, recovered the missing persons and flew them to the Buxton team base at Doveholes, and returned to Kinder Scout to collect a crew man left on site.
The two missing people were very cold and in their words were distressed by the circumstances they found themselves in. They were given hot drinks and returned in a team vehicle to their transport at Hayfield.