It might be spring but the Guardia Civil, mountain-rescue teams (GREIM) are still needed to rescue people trapped on snow-covered hillsides and mountains.

This was the case on Monday after the emergency coordination centre (112) received a call around 19.00h from a large group of mostly 15/16-year-olds near the Cerro de los Machos within the municipality of Capileira.

The group’s intention was to spend the night in the La Carihuela mountain refuge but they never got that far owing to fatigue and bad weather.

The rescue team set out in their helicopter to locate the three monitors, aged between 19 and 21, and 13 minors, both girls and boys. The group was at an altitude of 3,300 metres.

Thankfully, they were all kitted out with the right kind of equipment and clothing for this mountain expedition. They all had permission from their parents to participate, as well. Unfortunately, none of the three monitors reportedly had any qualifications for this kind of activity nor high-mountain experience.

The helicopter had to make five round trips in order to fly the whole group to safety from the south face of the Cerro de los Machos to the Puerto Molina in Capileira.

Strong gusting winds and low visibility as dusk set in at the beginning of the evacuation gave the pilot and rescue team a very difficult task to carry out the operation.

It was especially difficult for the pilots (more than one was involved although there was only one helicopter) juggling with fuel and the encroaching darkness as they finally landed the last group two hours later.

In fact, had the call-out happened an hour later, then there would not have been a chopper to carry out the mission because night-flying is forbidden, just the same as it is for Infoca aircraft.

Editorial comment: the monitors belonged to a mountaineering club and heads will roll because of the unprepared monitors employed, plus the cost of five flights is going to set them back a large sum of money if their civil-liability insurance refuses to pay out because of possible faults in the organisation of the trip.

(News: Sierra Nevada, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: Mountain Rescue, Teens, mountain expedition, monitors, Mountain Refugee, Cerro de los Machos, Puerto Molina de Capileira, Helicopter, Guardia Civil

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