Advice to hikers amid rescue mission that saved four from hypothermia

On Monday June 9 gardai received a call from four individuals who became lost in the Benbulbin mountain range in Sligo due to sudden bad weather.

A safety warning has been issued to hikers or people who plan on hiking mountains in the future as the four individuals who became disorientated due to the bad weather were close to becoming hypothermic.

Sligo Leitrim Mountain Rescue posted a video of the full rescue mission on Facebook, which can be seen below.

"The weather closed in on them," Ciarán Davis, PRO of Sligo Leitrim Mountain Rescue Team told Oceanfm.ie.

"The cloud cover came down quite heavily and the rain came in quite severely," he continued.

"We deployed out to the area...we had two vehicles on the road and a number of responders."

Ciarán explained that it was quite difficult to reach the four individuals who called for help and that responders went on a helicopter and flew up into the mountain as close as they could.

The responders then had to walk in by four up to where the casualties were.

The four individuals were assessed and Ciarán said they they were "very cold, very wet...they were borderline hypothermic."

The casualties were treated on site as well as by paramedics on the helicopter. 

Ciarán's advice to hikers is to first and foremost to check the weather forecast for the region you plan on hiking to several times before going there to hike and make sure that you have the best gear possible to take on a hike.

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Bring wet weather gear if it's going to be showery or over cast and good boots.

"Thirdly...bring sufficient food and water," Ciarán said.