Lost Rathgormack walkers turn up safe and sound

It was a busy day for South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association crews on Saturday, with three calls coming in quick succession, including one from Gardaí about two missing walkers in the Rathgormack area of Co. Waterford.

On Saturday, November 2, SEMRA first received a call from An Garda Síochána to assist two walkers who had become lost in the fog and had taken a fall in the Galtees.

The team responded to Borheen Lough, located the two walkers and began walking them out.

On the way out, the SEMRA team doctor became concerned about one of the walkers, who was then placed onto a stretcher for the remainder of the journey back to the team vehicles.

The injured walker was transferred to a National Ambulance Service ambulance and the other walker was transported back to his own car in a SEMRA vehicle.

Stand down issued at 16:23 and SEMRA expressed their gratitude to a local landowner for allowing access to his yard during the rescue.

As the last few team members were leaving, another call came in from the Gardaí about two young missing walkers in the Rathgormack area.

Simultaneously, two more walkers approached the team saying they had come down the wrong side of the mountain after getting lost in the fog.

They were brought to Cahir by a team member and a car from An Garda Siochana Cahir kindly assisted by bringing them onto Skeheenarinky where their car was parked.

In the meantime, the missing walkers in Rathgormack thankfully turned up safe and sound.

The stand down for that call had no sooner come through when another call came in for two lost walkers in the Slieve Blooms, which was taken by Laois Civil-Defence as they were closer to the origin of the emergency call.

A spokesperson said: “SEMRA members were very glad to be able to hand that call out over to them. An eventful day on the hill but all good outcomes.”

If you’d like to support SEMRA, you can join their Long Way Round annual fundraiser on November 23 or buy a calendar at semra.ie.