Scottish Highlands claim the lives of two more climbers

A rescue operation was launched shortly after 12.30pm yesterday in the Chalamain Gap area of the Cairngorms, Northern Constabulary said Police, Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team, search and rescue dogs, RAF Lossiemouth’s mountain rescue team and a helicopter were all involved.

One man was rescued and airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and remains critically ill.

Shortly afterwards, another two people were found and were also flown to hospital in Aberdeen but later died.

It is the latest in a series of fatal incidents in the Scottish mountains in recent weeks.

Earlier this week, Graham Connell, 31, from Castleford, West Yorkshire, was found dead in the Jacob’s Ladder area on Monday, following a large-scale search for him and five other people who were reported overdue on Sunday afternoon. The group were involved with the Leeds University Union Hiking Club.

In a separate incident earlier this month, three men survived falling 150 metres in an avalanche in the Coire an t-Sneachda area of the Cairngorms.

In the worst incident earlier this year, Harrogate doctor Rachel Majumdar, 29; University of Hull PhD student and Leeds resident Tom Chesters, 28; Christopher Bell, 24, also a PhD student; and 25-year-old junior doctor Una Finnegan died after they were caught up in an avalanche in Glencoe on January 19.