A couple of disoriented hikers on Scotland's second highest mountain called in for an emergency rescue — hours after calling and then turning the same rescue team away.
The pair was halfway up Ben MacDui mountain last Tuesday night when they panicked, telling rescuers at Cairngorms National Park that one of the campers was suffering from hypothermia. But after rescuers managed to round up a team of volunteers to fetch the hikers, the duo changed their minds, complaining that it would take too long and calling off the rescue.
Until the following morning, that is, when the "terrified" couple changed their minds yet again.
"We were called out twice by the same group," one of the rescuers told the Ross-shire Journal via Advnture. "On Tuesday night, they were camping and contacted us and saying they were a bit terrified that one of them had hypothermia."
"We said we could get them off the hill now if one of them had hypothermia and he said, 'No, no – I don't want to be rescued,'" the frustrated rescuer continued. "If someone doesn't want to be rescued, we can't rescue them, so we left them." But, the park rescuer added, false alarms risk using resources that could otherwise help other hikers who might be in real peril.
From Advnture:
Things didn't exactly go to plan for the hikers though. The following morning (Wednesday, January 29), they became lost on the same plateau they'd camped on, and called mountain rescue for a second time.
Volunteers responded swiftly and were able to pinpoint the hikers' location and escort them safely back to base by 2.30pm.
[CMRT deputy leader Willie] Anderson was irked by the situation, slamming the pair as "completely out of their depth and using the emergency services as a prop, almost."
Previously: Co-workers ditch colleague on Colorado hiking retreat — who falls 20 times and gets stranded
