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Walkers cling to cliff edge after footpath disintegrates beneath their feet

Two walkers cling to cliff after footpath disintegrates
Two walkers cling to cliff after footpath disintegrates



Two ramblers were left clinging to a cliff face for 45 minutes when a footpath disintegrated beneath their feet in Scotland.

The path gave way on Sunday at Harts Fell near Moffat in Dumfriesshire.

A Seak King from HMS Gannet at Prestwick was launched to rescue the two men, thought to be in their 60s.

One of the walkers sat at the top of the slope while the other was lying down below him holding onto his friend's shepherd's crook.

Lt Commander Jon Green, a pilot and duty aircraft commander, told the Daily Record: "We had to get as near to them as we could, so that we could safely winch our aircrewmen down.

"But, because we knew that they were not only on unstable ground, but that one of them was holding the other by his crook, we had to keep the hover as high as possible to avoid dislodging either of the people or the scree with the downwash from the helicopter.

"With the low cloud base, however, this was very difficult."

Two walkers cling to cliff after footpath disintegrates
Two walkers cling to cliff after footpath disintegrates



According to the Mirror, he added: "There was no question of our aircrewmen Chief Petty Officer Shaun 'Boogie' Knights detaching from the winch - the conditions underfoot were just too unpredictable.

"So, we had to put ourselves into a steady hover about 100ft directly above them both.

"Boogie went down on the wire and managed to quickly secure a strop around the lower of the two men, before recovering him to the aircraft. The same procedure was repeated for his walking partner."

Neither of the walkers were injured but were left shaken by the incident.





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Video: Dangerous Cliff Rescue
Video: Dangerous Cliff Rescue