The following article is from the The Chronicle UK:
THEIR reckless actions could have resulted in tragedy.
Rescuers who have been called out to save the same group of students in the Lake District at least five times in four years have today blasted irresponsible organisers who take teenagers up the mountains every year.
It took two mountain rescue teams all night to lead 23 Jewish students from Gateshead to safety after they became stuck half-way down one of Cumbria’s most remote peaks on Sunday.
And the volunteer search crews have revealed it is not the first time they have risked their own safety to save the students.
Rescuers said teams from across the Lake District have been called upon to help groups from Gateshead’s Talmudical College at least five times in recent years.
The walking trips, organised by teenagers from the college, take place about once a year.
And the fed-up rescuers believe it is a miracle none of the teens, who go into the hills dressed in tracksuits and trainers without suitable equipment or navigation skills have yet been killed.
Today members of the Cockermouth and Wasdale mountain rescue teams said they have had enough and plan to contact the police.
Julian Carradice, team leader at Wasdale Rescue Team, said: “It is a miracle none of these students have ever been killed. It’s just been sheer good luck. I have seen some very experienced walkers die on those mountains, and the way this group operate is beyond belief.
“In my memory our team alone has rescued the same group from the same school in a similar scenario at least four times over the last few years. I know other teams have as well.
“We are going to have to push the police to do something.”
The group of 23 lads, aged between 14 and 23, became stranded on Looking Stead, in Ennerdale, at around 10.25pm on Sunday.
The students, were climbing down the peak when they hit difficult terrain and got stuck, halfway down the 2057ft mountain. Rescuers were called after a warden at Black Sail Youth Hostel, where they were staying spotted their lights. But it took rescuers until 4am yesterday morning to lead the group, some who were suffering from the early affects of hypothermia, to safety.
Mike Park, from Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team, said it was ludicrous to take such a large number of inexperienced walkers into the hills.
And he added that the group were ill-equipped, wearing inappropriate clothing, and being supervised by a 19-year-old.
“There was a group of 23 of them of them, the youngest was 14 but there was at least 10 of them under the age of 18, being led by a 19-year-old,” he said.
“They were clearly ill-prepared both physically and in their clothing and they did not have the navigation skills to know where they were.
“And the sheer number of people out there and their age put them at risk. When we arrived there were a couple going down with hypothermia.
“The location is one of the remotest parts of the Lake District. There is no mobile phone signal there and no-one can hear you call for help. Some of them were just wearing training shoes.
“This had the potential to be a very serious incident.
“I’m an outdoor pursuits instructor and it wouldn’t cross my mind to take that many people out. I would break them down into groups of two or three.
“People learn there lesson out on the hills and hopefully it’s not a harmful one. But these people don’t seem to have learnt anything from last time.”
A spokesman for the Talmudical College in Bensham said the trip had not been organised by the school and they had no knowledge of it.
(Source: Cronicle UK / YWN-47S5)
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12 Responses
Obviously they need to have Hareidi Boy Scout troops in England (America has two – one in New York, one in Baltimore). People shouldn’t go off on hikes into places they might need rescuing unless they know what they are doing.
Why don’t they have marked trails there like we do?
They should be charged for the cost of the rescue.
what makes you think they were on a trail?
if i had a name like these rescue groups, i would shut my mouth. who thinks of these names?!?!
#1- there are other smaller boy scout troops that are frum in America. They should be used more extensively by the frum community to teach students how to properly equip themselves on a hike, to know navigation skills, and to know the difficulty of the terrain before traveling!
“Why don’t they have marked trails there like we do? ”
I am not sure where you live, but in Israel, the trails are very cearly marked, and just about every year, you can see Av/Elul stroies just like these, whether in En Gedi, the Arava, the Galil or the Golan. Talmidei Yeshivot neding to be rescued, because they go hiking completely unprepared. Of course, this happens to other segments of the population as well, but far less frequently. The reason for this is because the other segments of society read from outside sources and as such, can get information relevant to the area (aside from any additional outdoors experience that they may have).
A lesson can be learned from this: While Torah education is important, it is not all-inclusive, and educating oneself for preparation for life situations is also necessary.
“The location is one of the remotest parts of the Lake District. There is no mobile phone signal there and no-one can hear you call for help. Some of them were just wearing training shoes.
Some of them were just wearing training shoes.
that is a story all by itself!
Maybe they were trying some type of Kabalistic thing to get rid of swine flew there too.
#7- outside the Kesher unit in New York and the ones in Baltimore (chartered to the Sternhell’s shul) and the aad hoc frum jamboree troop, are there any strictly frum scout units (i.e. all the boys go to yeshiva, all adults are required to be Bnei Torah, halav yisrael all the time, etc.)? I know there are many Shomer Shabbos units, but most contain a mixture of frum and not-so-frum youth and adults. Most Hareidi families would only beinterested if it was a unit where all the boys could eat at each other’s houses, and the unit never did anything they couldn’t proudly tell their rebbe about. There is much more interest than ability in outdoor skills within our community.
yep, i have often wondered why rescue groups in general should be responsible to risk their own lives and spend their own money for people who are playing with fire.
#6 – They are just the names of the places where the search groups are based – villages, towns, whatever.