Four people from Barcelona had to be rescued in the Junta de Los Ríos canyon above Otívar yesterday after they became stuck climbing its walls.

The four, aged between 16 and 53, found that they could go no further when attempting to make their way down – they had probably come to a waterfall and decided to work their way around it and had become stuck.

The emergency, call centre (112) informed the Guardia Civil so that they could send out a mountain rescue team. The call centre had receive a call from a person who said that he had seen four people clinging to the steep side of the upper ravine, who were shouting for help.

The caller also said that they had been in this situation for at least 40 minutes since he had first seen them – he couldn’t phone before because there had been no mobile coverage.

A 2-man team from the Grupo de Montaña was flown down from Granada by helicopter and flew along the ravine until they found the four excursionists. Making gestures to tell them not to move because there was a long drop beneath them, they began the extraction process: the two team members were wynched down and they harness up two of the victims, starting with the youngest lad of 16. With them onboard they came back for the remaining two.

With the helicopter with everybody on board, the pilot made his way to where the victims had left their car, in the parking area at the top end of the descent route that excursionists take. None of them had suffered any serious injuries although all had scratches and bruises.

The victims explained how they had jumped into a waterfall pond from which there was no way of getting back up again and of course, there was no mobile coverage.

Editorial comment: what sort of idiot jumps down a waterfall, with no equipment to enable them to get back up again or make their way further down? They obviously have no sense of self preservation. How much has it cost so far this summer to rescue people after doing something completely stupid?

(News: Otivar, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)