A dog walker in the UK tragically fell 600 feet to his death from the peak of Helvellyn, one of the Lake District’s tallest mountains, according to a report in The Telegraph. The unnamed man was reported missing by his wife after he went on a walk with his black labrador. As per the police, the wife had been tracking her husband’s progress on the phone but noticed he had not moved for a few hours, which prompted her to inform the authorities.
The search operation involved seven mountain teams, two coastguard and rescue helicopters probing the numerous routes leading to Helvellyn’s summit, where his phone last signalled. However, the atrocious weather conditions meant that a total of 68 rescue personnel from various teams including Patterdale, Keswick, Langdale Ambleside, Cockermouth, Penrith, and Kirkby Stephen had to spend two days to complete the operation.
As per Cumbria Police, the man had left a holiday home in Grasmere and gone out on his bicycle with his dog. On the first day, the search had to be called off around 1:30 am as the safety of the team members could have been compromised.
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Body recovered
On the second day, the team, using a rope system, descended a headwall down towards Red Tarn where the dog was found “safe and well” on a ledge. After the team members were lowered, the man’s body was found near the lake on the eastern side of the mountain.
“The man’s body was lowered by stretcher to the back of Red Tarn, then carried down to Greenside and transported back to Patterdale Base where it was handed over to Cumbria Police. The whole incident took 20 hours to complete over two days,” a mountain rescue spokesman told the publication.
“We would like to send our condolences to the man’s family and friends and our thanks to the various teams and search and rescue helicopter crews who assisted with the search and subsequent recovery.”
Meanwhile, the police said the death was not believed to be suspicious.
