Walkers rescued – and fined for breaking rules
A SEARCH party of more than 20 volunteers, including police and dog rescue teams, were sent out to find two women who had travelled “some distance” to visit waterfalls in South Wales.
Despite stay-at-home lockdown rules, the women had driven from the Gwent area to the Neath Valley on Sunday but got lost around the waterfalls between Pontneddfechan and Ystradfellte.
After being brought back to safety, both women were promptly fined by police for breaching the coronavirus regulations.
The two women raised the alert after they got lost in the area and found themselves unable to retrace their path back to the car park.
Officers from both South Wales Police and Dyfed-Powys Police were called, as well as volunteers from the Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team and the Search and Rescue Dog Association South Wales.
After setting up a “hasty hill party”, the group of around 20 volunteers were able to find the pair after they described the route they had taken to the rescuers. The two women were eventually escorted back to the car park where they had started off earlier in the day and police handed out fines to them both.
The Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team, which operates in the Brecon Beacons National Park, said it was their second callout on Sunday.
A spokesman for the volunteer service said: “We were called by both South Wales Police and DyfedPowys Police to go to the assistance to two walkers who were lost in the area around the waterfalls between Pontneddfechan and Ystradfellte.
“Whilst phone signal was poor, from the description of their route given, in conjunction with PhoneFind technology a rough location was established.
“A hasty hill party, a search dog team from Search and Rescue Dog Association South Wales were dispatched to assist police officers also looking for the two ladies. Fortunately they were found and escorted back to the car park. The two were not local and, having driven some distance in breach of current Covid regulations, were issued with fines by the police officers.”
The team also thanked the owners of the farm at Carn-ycrochan who allowed the search dog team through their property.
South Wales Police said it had assisted the mountain rescue team in “locating two females from the Gwent Police area who had travelled for exercise”.
The force also thanked the “20+ volunteers” from the search and rescue group and added both women were “safe and well”.