Dramatic rescue on Table Mountain

It was a cry for help carried by the wind that set in motion a dramatic‚ all-night rescue effort to save a tourist on Table Mountain who had plummeted 20m onto a ledge barely the size of a double bed.

Below the ledge was a drop of more than 25 storeys down the face of the cliff.

The drama started just after 5pm on Monday when a resident of Camps Bay heard a person shouting for help above the house.

Wilderness Search and Rescue said in a post on its Facebook page that an extensive search revealed the distress calls were being carried to Camps Bay by a strong southeasterly wind from the slopes of the mountain‚ just below the upper cable car station.

“The fading light as well as the strong wind ruled out a helicopter rescue,” it said.

“It was then apparent that a very technical rope rescue operation was required.”

The person in distress was a 32-year-old man from Iceland.

With the wind exceeding its normal operational conditions‚ the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway company agreed to make a single attempt to ferry a rescue team to the top of the mountain in a cable car.

Rescuers were then able to abseil towards the tourist, who used the light of his cellphone to show where he had fallen.

They had to negotiate unstable terrain‚ steep drop-offs‚ sheer cliff faces and potential rock falls in the dark‚ abseiling about 300m over multiple stages to reach the hiker.

Unhurt, he was then put into a harness and lowered down to the base of Cairn Buttress, from where he was assisted to walk down to waiting vehicles, Wilderness Rescue said.

“This gentleman can count himself extremely lucky‚” it said.

“He suffered no serious injury.”