Missing Climbers Located After Avalanche At Glencoe In The Scottish Highlands

Search For Missing Climbers After Glencoe Avalanche
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A party of six climbers caught up in an avalanche in Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands have all been located, police have said.

One man, who was part of the group of three men and three women, raised the alarm at about 2pm and stayed with police and mountain rescue teams to help with the search.

A woman is in a serious condition in Belford hospital, Fort William, following the incident on Bidean Nam Bian, but Northern Constabulary would not confirm the conditions of those who had been missing and would not say if there had been any fatalities.

Mark Diggins, co-ordinator of the Scottish Avalanche Information Service, said the weather conditions were fairly dry with little snow over the last four days.

He said today's avalanche risk was deemed "considerable", second lowest on a European four-point scale.

The most serious is "very high", which is extremely rare in Britain.

"An avalanche is possible to be triggered by a single person," said Mr Diggins. "At the moment it doesn't look like there's much snow, it is very localised.

"You're really getting into areas which are 800 metres up because the wind packs the snow to make it hard."

In a statement, Northern Constabulary said: "Police can confirm that searchers have now located all the members of a climbing party caught up in the avalanche at Glencoe this afternoon.

"The party of six, three men and three women, had been climbing on Bidean Nam Bian.

"One male member of the party raised the alarm and stayed to assist the searches at the scene. One woman remains in a serious condition at Belford hospital.

"There is no further information on the condition of the other members of the party at this time.

"Police are making efforts to trace the families of those involved."