MOUNTAIN rescuers warned yesterday that a combination of wind and rain
could kill, even in mid-August.
Mr Malcolm Duckworth, leader of the Aberdeen mountain rescue team, was
speaking after an eight-year-old German girl died from hypothermia while
walking in the Cairngorms with her father and 11-year-old brother.
The trio had lost their way while hiking 20 miles through the Lairig
Ghru from the Linn o' Dee to the Cairngorm car park. The father went
ahead to get help.
Mr Duckworth also questioned whether it was a trip which should have
been undertaken by an eight-year-old girl. ''I think that is a bit
young, although it depends on their experience, how well equipped they
are, and, most of all, on whom they are with,'' he said. ''One adult and
two children is not a very good combination''.
It was not clear whether the family had gone by the higher route,
which would have taken them on to the plateau at a height of 3000ft, or
kept to the lower level. ''I would not be very keen on taking an
eight-year-old on the lower route and definitely not over the top,''
said Mr Duckworth.
''At this time of year the weather can be a bit changeable and wind
and rain is a combination, which can be a killer. It leads to
hypothermia and it is essential that people appreciate what the wind and
wet can do and that they are equipped accordingly.''
Northern Police named the dead girl as Helen Mallinson, of Hainbund
Strasse, Gottingen. She and her brother, Peter, and father, Volker, 45,
had been dropped off by their mother at the Linn o' Dee on Monday and
when they failed to turn up at the Cairngorm car park on time, she
notified police at Aviemore.
Glenmore Lodge mountain rescue team was alerted and the father was
traced on the car park road. He was able to lead rescuers to the point,
on the track leading down from Lurcher's Gully, where he had left the
children sheltering from heavy rain and high winds.
The boy was found to be in a reasonable condition but his sister was
suffering from hypothermia. A helicopter was called in and she was taken
to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, where she was found to be dead on arrival.
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