Airlift drama for 18 teenagers

Published on Saturday 29 March 2008 22:26

A GROUP of teenagers were airlifted off Dartmoor yesterday after they were caught in severe weather conditions.

It is understood 18 people were rescued by a military helicopter from the Royal Marines base at Chivenor, Devon.

The group were taking part in a training weekend for the Ten Tors walking event in which teams race across the moor on either 35, 45 or 55 mile routes.

It is the second rescue on Dartmoor in two days after five 17-year-old girls became lost in bad weather conditions on Friday morning.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said: "The teams were taking part in a training weekend for Ten Tors and a number were affected by the bad weather."

A police spokesman said 18 children were airlifted to hospital for treatment for cold and one of them, a 14-year-old boy, was detained with a suspected fractured ankle.

Around 1,000 children remain on the moor and conditions are "unpleasant but not dangerous", he said.

Parts of the moor suffered heavy rain yesterday and southerly winds of up to 40mph.

Ten Tors takes place in May and training for last year's event was hit by tragedy when 14-year-old Charlotte Shaw died after being swept away in a swollen river on March 4.

Charlotte, from Frithelstock Stone, Devon, was in a party of 10 from Edgehill College and was swept away by water at Walla Brook.

She was rescued but died in hospital the following day.

The event itself was abandoned due to more bad weather and 12 other young people needed to be airlifted to safety.

The girls who were rescued yesterday came from London and were participating in a Duke of Edinburgh award scheme trip. Yesterday's rescue prompted police to issue a warning to walkers to check the weather conditions before setting off. They said there had been four rescues on Dartmoor in the past 10 days.