Should have been an even lesser problem if the guy had SnapTrak:
Trapped Climber Saved by Text Message
Updated: Mon, May 21 8:37 AM EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - An injured climber trapped on a remote Welsh hillside was saved after his rescuers sent him a text message on his mobile phone to find out his exact location.
The 59-year-old man, who has not been named, picked up the message and directed a rescue helicopter toward him.
"This is the first time we have used a text message to help in a search and rescue operation," said rescue co-ordinator Pilot Officer Russ Gleeson of Britain's Royal Air Force on Monday.
The drama unfolded on Sunday afternoon when a hiker from Chester, northwest England, fell and injured his chest and legs.
Police and the RAF launched a search around the Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia National Park, an area in north Wales popular with walkers.
"We scrambled a helicopter from RAF Valley in Anglesey but after about ten minutes were unable to find the guy," said Gleeson, who is based at RAF Kinloss in north east Scotland.
"He had gone behind a rock and the helicopter crew could not see him. His mobile phone signal was weak and we couldn't ring him, so we sent him a text message with our telephone number, asking him to move.
"We managed to open a line of communication and the climber directed the helicopter to him. We winched him up and flew him to hospital."
The man was released from hospital last night after being treated for minor injuries, police said.
In February, a British tourist stranded on a stricken boat off the Indonesian coast sent a mayday text message to her boyfriend in the UK. Rebecca Fyfe, 19, was rescued after UK coastguards contacted rescue teams in Australia who passed the details to the Indonesian authorities. |
