Four teenage hikers rescued from mountain

COUNTY Wicklow rescuers were the heroes of the bank holiday weekend after a massive mountain search for a missing hiking party ended with all four teenaged members being returned safely to their families.

Members of the Glen of Imaal Red Cross rescue squad joined with the Dublin-Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team joined with the Dublin-Wicklow Mountain Rescue Team in the early hours of Tuesday morning after initial searches of the area where the teenagers were thought to have gone failed to reveal any traces of them.

The four friends, two girls and two boys aged between 14 and 16 and all from Tallaght, were report- ed missing at teatime on Monday after they failed to return from a short camping trip to the mountainy Stone's Cross area along the border between counties Wicklow and Dublin.

Fears grew for the young people as snow fell to a depth of up to eight inches in places and temperatures dropped to below freezing and tracker dogs were brought in to help with the search.

Joe Moore of the Glen of Imaal Red Cross Mountain Rescue was among rescuers who worked through the night amidst fresh falls of snow which continued until shortly before 5am. At one point he recorded a temperature of minus four degrees.

The teenagers were eventually spotted at midday just four or five miles from Tallaght and were flown by Air Corps helicopter to Baldonnel Air Base before being reunited with their parents.