[Updated below - 16.00 1st April] Lochaber Mountain Rescue were out tonight, 31st March, searching for a young man who went walking up the Ben Nevis track yesterday and is missing.
Unfortuately he has not been located and a full callout is planned for tomorrow morning.
RAF RESCUE 137 was on scene to assist tonight – in what may well be their last ever callout.
R137 is decommissioned tomorrow morning and its last service looks like having been with Lochaber Mountain Rescue. Bristow’s are to take over the Search and Rescue [SAR] Contract for the UK.
RAF Lossiemouth where the RAF Sea Kings have been based was saying goodbye to the RAF SAR Sea Kings R137/138 today – with a fascinating account of their service at Lossie online here. [Dave ‘Heavy’ Whalley, whose site this is, was a member of the RAF mountain rescue team for 36 years.]
These are sad days with the end of this much valued service and its embedded connection with RAF Lossiemouth.
We now have to hope that the young walker is sucessfully located by the Lochaber Mountain Rescue team in the morning. These have been two hard days and nights to be missing on Ben Nevis.
1st April Update: 10.30
The search is back on this morning in fairly dreadful weather – and R137 is back down in assistance – although, given its impending cessation of existence, no one knows how long it will be able to stay. If it should be recalled for the handover, will the Bristow service go straight into action and get down to Ben Nevis?
Lochaber Mountain Rescue is alos being assisted by Glencoe Mountain Rescue,SARDA and RAF Mountain Rescue.
Update 13.00
From the AIS track the new Bristow SAR service helicopter has just been searching around the Ben as well as dropping people off.
They seem to be at Carr’s Corner now – the helicopter landing ground and refuelling point.
The smaller photograph, by the way, is not an aerial view of the helicopter, just an icon used for helicopters. Shows it at 62 ft asl.
Update 15.30
The Coastguard helicopters are now operated by Bristow’s – which will eventually take over completely from the RAF and RN. Lossiemouth is the first base to change over.
RESCUE 951 [CG / Bristow’s] got down here sometime after 11:00. Then went back to Inverness but down here again.
Update 16.00
Above are largely deserted search and rescue vehicles in Glen Nevis while the search goes on today for 23 year old Londoner, Kyle Knox, last seen at about 10.00 on Monday 31th March in the Glen Nevis area – but with police evidently given a report of a sighting of him on Ben Nevis later.
Martin Briscoe
Photographs are © Matin Briscoe.
