A SUSPECTED stroke victim was saved by a “quick-thinking” fellow hiker at a Highland beauty spot.
Assynt Mountain Rescue Team (AMRT) responded to an alert from Police Scotland to help the Scottish Ambulance Service reach a person who had fallen ill at the Bones Caves in Sutherland on Thursday.
A coastguard helicopter from Stornoway was also called in by rescuers due to the “potential seriousness” of the incident.
AMRT hailed the “quick-thinking" of a fellow hiker who used the satellite SOS function on their iPhone to alert the emergency services due to there being no mobile network coverage at the Bone Caves.
The Highland beauty spot is a popular hiking destination and has been home to significant archeological discoveries, including evidence of the existence of polar bears in Scotland.
In a social media post, a spokesman for AMRT said: Assynt Mountain Rescue Team were tasked today by Police Scotland Highland & Islands to assist the Scottish Ambulance Service with a walker at the Bones Caves who had a suspected stroke.
“Due to the potentially seriousness nature of the situation, coastguard helicopter Rescue 948 from Stornoway was tasked and was able to lift the casualty to the waiting helimed for onward travel to hospital.
“There is no mobile network coverage at the Bone Caves, so a quick-thinking member of the public used the satellite SOS function on their iPhone to alert the emergency services.”
The Bone Caves of Inchnadamph, are a rare limestone formation, and researchers have found relics of Eurasian lynx, brown bear, Arctic fox, and reindeer dated to 47,000 BC.
In 1995 evidence of polar bears was found at the site along with human skeletons dated to the third millennium BC.
The skeleton of a bear is thought to be 11,000 years old and was removed from the caves in 2008.
