Rescue team warns against hill walking with children

A WARNING against taking children onto the mountains, especially in winter, was issued yesterday by the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team (KMRT), which brought a man and four children to safety near Adrigole, Co Cork, late on Monday night.

The Englishman in his late 30s, who was accompanied by children aged seven and eight years and two nine-year-olds, got into difficulties while hill walking from the top of the Healy Pass to Hungry Hill, Castletownbere.

Cambridge University lecturer Tim Flack, who was holidaying in a cottage near the Healy Pass, praised the KMRT who, he said, were “absolutely fantastic and very professional”.

He said the mist came down quickly on him and the children and they ended up in a precipitous ravine.

Mr Flack said he was an experienced hill climber and would bring maps and a compass with him when he next went onto the mountains.

Two of the children were his and two were his partner’s.

Mr Flack, who was renting a house while on holidays in Adrigole, was wrongly advised that there was a path or trail along his intended five-kilometre route, according to the team.

More than 20 KMRT members were involved in the six-hour rescue. Team chairman Gerry Christie said the Caha mountains were “quite tricky” and the terrain was far more difficult than the man realised.

“He set off at around 12.30pm on a route which was longer than he anticipated. As darkness approached, he knew he would not reach his intended destination and also that he could not get back to where he started from,” Mr Christie said.

“After crossing the first hill, he swung south-east as he tried to make the road, but he was actually heading into wilderness. However, once he got into difficulty, he behaved correctly by raising the alarm with his mobile phone.

“He and the children stayed put and had they kept on going the situation would have been much worse,” Mr Christie added.

The man made a 999 emergency call at around 5pm and the rescue team got to Adrigole at around 8pm.

They were assisted by the local cliff, coast and rescue service and were guided to the scene by local farmer Owen O’Sullivan, who knew the area intimately.