Major search for missing students near Llanidloes

Over 50 Mountain Rescue members scoured Hafren Forest near Llanidloes and the Plynlimon mountain after students from a Manchester university became lost over the weekend.

An initial call out to emergecy services at 4.30pm on Saturday from a man and a woman in their 20s from Manchester Metropolitan University, who were suffering from hypothermia, said they were near Llanbrynmair. But members of the Aberdyfi Search and Rescue Team used a system called SARLOC which found they were actually 17kms away near Plynlimon.

SARLOC sends an SMS message to a mobile phone and triggers the GPS device to provide a pinpoint location.

Members of the team were joined by colleagues from Brecon, Central Beacons and Longtown Mountain Rescue Teams who reached the remote spot in high winds and driving rain.

In the meantime, six more members of the of the same party turned up 6kms to the east in the Hafren Forest near Llanidloes and another four members were unaccounted for.

"With the provision of food, warm drinks and dry warm clothes, the man re-warmed sufficiently to be escorted off the hill on foot, but the woman remained in a poor state.  In very cold patients, the act of walking can potentially initiate further complications and so it was decided to evacuate her by stretcher. Both casualties were down off the mountain by 10.30pm," saidGraham O'Hanlon, spokesman for the Aberdyfi rescue team.

"In the meantime, another member of the party had turned up in Hafren Forest, some 6 km to the east of the casualty site, and it became apparent that a further four women from the party were unaccounted for. They had apparently intended to head due-south from the casualty site to meet the main road, but it was suggested they had neither map, compass nor lights.

"Other search parties started sweeping this area  while the stretcher party was busy with the evacuations, and once down off the hill these volunteers were re-tasked to join the search for the missing women. The poor weather conditions meant that helicopter assistance was not available."

He added: "A party of ASART volunteers was deployed to sweep Hafren Forest, while another party searched a remote valley north of the casualty-site. At around 1:30 a.m. this northern party located the women, who were cold but in reasonably good spirits. After giving them food and warm drinks, they were escorted out of the valley, and had reached vehicles at the road-head by 3am."

The search and rescue teams said this was an example of people needing to ensure they are properly equipped before heading out on walks and hikes in the Mid Wales area.

"This is another reminder that people should make sure they are properly equipped and skilled before heading for the mountains" said Mr O'Hanlon.

 "If the vagaries of phone coverage had meant that SARLOC could not be deployed, then we would have started our search in completely the wrong place, and it is unlikely that we would have reached the casualties before the effects of the poor weather overtook them. Big thanks are due to the many volunteers from the four teams involved, many of whom would not have seen their beds much before 5am."