Man rescued after 24 hours stuck on remote cliff in the Scottish Highlands

An experienced hillwalker spent more than 24 hours stuck on a cliff edge above a Highland loch before being rescued.

The 72-year-old man became stranded and was “unable to go forward or back” in the Kinloch Hourn area at Loch Hourn on Sunday afternoon.

The area is widely regarded as one of the most inaccessible wildernesses in the UK.

Due to the remote location and lack of mobile signal, the pensioner was unable to contact the Coastguard until Monday.

Kyle RNLI lifeboat crew set sail at around 1.20pm after the alarm was raised. The rescue operation, involving members of Glenelg Mountain Rescue Team, lasted more than six hours.

At one point the man spotted the rescue team, but they were too far away for him to signal to the crew.

The rescuers, who had to head back out of the loch to re-establish communications with the Coastguard, eventually found the man on a small ledge just above the waterline at 7pm. He was reunited with his family in Kyle of Lochalsh around 30 minutes later.

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A Kyle RNLI spokesman said: “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 launched 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.”