Call Out: 5th September 2007 Ben Venue Rescue

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Call Out: 5th September 2007 Ben Venue RescueA PARTY of 22 ramblers from a rights of way group were rescued from Ben Venue.
Five members of the group were airlifted from the slopes of the 2,392ft Trossachs peak and a sixth had to be stretchered off the hill by the Lomond Mountain rescue team. The remaining 16 were escorted to safety after finding themselves still on the hill after midnight.
The well equipped walkers were on an organised trek with Scottish rights of way group Scotways on Wednesday 5th Sept, when one of the walkers, a man of 80, suffered a minor stroke. The group alerted Central Scotland Police and eight members waited with the man while the remaining 13 carried on. A Royal Navy helicopter from HMS Gannet at Prestwick airlifted the man to the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow.
Four of the party of eight who had waited with him were also airlifted off the hill, by then suffering from exhaustion.
Around the same time, one of the group of 13 attempting to make their way off the hill on foot fell. The casualty, a 58-year-old woman was stretchered off the hill and taken to Stirling Royal Infirmary. Both incidents occurred in the Bealach nam Bo area above Loch Katrine.