Incident Report #34 2006

A group of ten people from Thailand got in to difficulties when they tried to walk from Langdale to Borrowdale. They became very cold and wet during heavy snow fall in the Angle Tarn area. Eight of them were helped to safety by passing walkers, and two of the more seriously affected were given shelter in a tent put up by a school party. They had become seriously hypothermic. The shelter provided by the school probably saved their lives, and their actions are to be commended. So to are the actions of the people who assisted the other eight. The team were called to assist the two in the tent, and we requested the assistance of a search and rescue helicopter from the RAF, and help from Kendal MRT. The two were treated by team members then all were evacuated from the hill by helicopter. The group were inadequately equipped and had little by way of appropriate clothing or footwear. Without the sound thinking of passersby and the assistance of the helicopter, the outcome would have undoubtedly been much worse.