Man, 72, rescued after being trapped on cliff ledge for more than 24 hours

A pensioner who was trapped on a cliff face for more than 24 hours has been rescued by the RNLI.

The 72-year-old man was hiking round Kinloch Hourn, in the West Highlands of Scotland, on Sunday lunchtime, when he became stuck on a tiny ledge just above the waterline.He was stranded for 24 hours and struggled to call for help as there was no phone signal in the area.

On Monday at 1.20pm, he managed to get weak phone service and called the emergency services.

The Kyle RNLI, teamed up with the Glenelg Mountain Rescue Team to search for the man, whose exact location was not known as the rescue mission began.

At 4pm, the lifeboat dropped the mountain rescue team at the head of the loch.

After hours of scouring the area, the RNLI lifeboat managed to find the man at 7pm.

The crew reached the man and got him onboard, before making their way back to the village of Kyle in Ross-shire, where he was reunited with his very relieved family at 7.30pm.

A spokesperson for Kyle RNLI says: "This gentleman is an experienced walker who had unfortunately become trapped in an impossible situation, unable to go forward or back.

"Due to the location, he had no mobile signal from the time he had become trapped until Monday lunchtime, when he noticed he had a very weak one.

"He was then able to get in touch with the emergency services who launch a search and rescue operation.

"We regularly train with other rescue agencies and by working well with everyone involved, we were able to return him back to his family safely."

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