News

The number of callouts for the Keswick Mountain Rescue Team dropped in 2011 from the steady rise of the previous two years.

It responded to 96 incidents, including 28 leg injuries, and 19 searches, which is fewer than 2010 when they had 144 callouts and 2009 with 136, reports the News and Star.

Rescues are often collaborative undertakings and Royal Navy and RAF helicopters were involved in 11 of them, with the air ambulance being called out on 20 occasions.

A spokesman for the team told the news provider: "In addition to all the time spent on rescues we train every week and also expend further time on maintaining and replacing equipment and running the business of the team."

The number of rescues could continue to fall if walkers take the team's advice and go into the hills fully kitted out with waterproof clothing, a torch, map and a compass.

Keswick Mountain Rescue Team was formed in its earliest incarnation after a rescue on Tophet Bastion, Great Gable in 1946.