The parents of a young child of four went through what many parents dread; their small child suddenly fainted and they couldn't bring her around.

It was 12:15h last Sunday afternoon in the Borreguiles area, on the Sierra Nevada and a family was on a walk. Suddenly the child fainted and despite their efforts, they couldn’t bring her around. Fortunately, a mountain-rescue helicopter belonging to the Guardia Civil was to hand in the area, as it had been patrolling the slopes.

The helicopter was on the ground with the crew nearby when they were approached by several people to say that a small girl was unconscious and needed help.

Two crew members rapidly went to where the girl was and found that she was pale, groggy and wasn’t reacting to stimulus so they carried the child in their arms to the nearby ski resort’s medical centre.

The medical staff saw that the oxygen level in her blood was abnormally low and concluded that she had fainted from height sickness, so once returned to consciousness, she was taken to the general hospital in the city below.

In a separate incident, eight hikers from Córdoba, aged between 22 and 60 years, had to be rescued in the Gorafe desert (badlands) by the Guardia Civil after they become stuck up on the Cerro Campos Montes.

The Guardia Civil received a call out at 16:00h from the Servicio de Emergencias (112). Immediately the Guardia Civil rescue helicopter set off with a team onboard and soon located the stranded group on a very steep mountain side. The rescue team brought them out in groups of three to where their tourist bus was waiting in Gorafe.

Editorial comment: these Guardia Civil personnel deserve a lot of recognition for all the rescue missions they carry out, year after year, come winter, come summer, risking their own lives to save those who in many cases should have known better.

(News/Noticias: Sierra Nevada/Gorafe, Granada, Andalucia)