Voluntary mountain teams rescue 693 people

Almost 700 people were rescued by Scottish mountain and cave rescue teams in 2011, an increase on the previous year.

The teams spent about 24,000 hours dealing with the 573 incidents in 2011. They rescued 693 people, of whom 270 were injured and 52 died, according to the Scottish Mountain Rescue Annual Statistics Report 2011.

In 2010, they dealt with 534 incidents and rescued 659 people.

As in previous years, summer hillwalking led to the highest number of incidents, with 242 in 2011.

Jonathan Hart, chair of the Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland, said: “The Scottish mountain rescue statistics for 2011 once again demonstrate the importance of our service to the communities across Scotland and to the members of the public whom we serve.

“Mountain rescue in Scotland is largely a voluntary activity, and I continue to remain immensely proud of the 1,100 team members across the country who regularly give up their time to assist those in distress in our mountains, moorlands and other inaccessible locations, day or night, often in winter, in some of the most hostile conditions a rescuer can ever face.

“Scottish mountain rescue teams have some of the most highly skilled and experienced rescuers available in the UK and continue to provide an outstanding emergency service to Scottish communities.”

Last year, just over a quarter (27 per cent) of incidents fell into the non-mountaineering category of activities, such as water sports, pony trekking and hang-gliding.

Helicopters from the Royal Navy, RAF or Coastguard helped in more than a third (34 per cent) of all incidents, while search-and-rescue dog teams were involved in about a quarter (26 per cent) of them.

In the majority of cases (63 per cent) the alarm was raised by calls from mobile phones.