A GROUP of 12 hill walkers are lucky to be alive following a dramatic rescue on the Galtee mountains in Tipperary.

A FAMILY of four were found safe and well late on Sunday night after becoming lost while hiking on the Galtee mountains in Tipperary.

A mother-of-three who was lost up a mountain for 18 hours says she survived on a Mars bar, water and prayers to the Sacred Heart.

A hillwalker is recovering in hospital, after falling from a cliff at Mahon Falls in Co Waterford.