Walkers injured in Pillar mountain fall

Three men got into difficulty while descending Pillar, the eighth highest mountain in the Lake District

Two walkers suffered head and back injuries after falling about 50ft (15m) in the Lake District, a mountain rescue team has said.

The two men were part of a trio who became "disorientated" while descending Pillar at about 16:00 GMT on Sunday.

One of them suffered "severe head injuries" and another back and rib injuries when he fell while going to the first walker's aid.

Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team said it was a "complicated" six-hour rescue.

The operation involved 22 members of the Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team

The operation involved 22 members of the team, HM Coastguard helicopter Rescue 936 from Caernarfon and the North West Ambulance Service.

The rescuers found the first man attempting to walk for help in woods, from where he was taken to hospital.

The other two walkers were found higher up the mountain either side of the West Waterfall, with the man who had fallen being lowered down the mountains on a stretcher.

The rescue took about six hours

He was then winched aboard the helicopter and flown to Bowness Knott where he was transferred into a road ambulance.

Team leader Andrew McNeil said: "This was a complicated rescue with a lot going on. Three casualties, two of which had significant injuries following lengthy falls, all in a very remote, steep and loose mountain environment, at night, in fog."

He wished all casualties a "speedy recovery".