Wasdale MRT in action on a previous incidentA woman has died after an accident on Scafell, in the Lake District.

Wasdale MRT in action on a previous incident

The 49-year-old fell about 60m (200ft) from Shamrock Crag yesterday afternoon. Her walking companion also fell and dislocated his shoulder when he went to her aid.

The two walkers had taken a wrong turn while descending from Scafell and ended up on difficult ground near Lord’s Rake. The weather was warm and visibility was good.

A team of 20 from Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team went to the walkers’ aid. A helicopter from RAF Leconfield in East Yorkshire flew them both to West Cumberland Hospital, Whitehaven, but the woman was pronounced dead.

Julian Carradice, who led the team from Wasdale, said the route looks like a walkable path, but is in reality loose stone and scree. The couple had been to the summit and were making their way down, on the Wasdale side of the fell.

He said: “They took a wrong turn. After the woman fell, the man scrambled down to help her and he also took a tumble and injured his shoulder.

“It is a tragedy. I feel for the family. It is an awful thing for them to have to deal with.”

The woman and man have not been named, but are understood to be from the Birmingham area. The man is in his forties. The woman sustained head and leg injuries in her fall.

Shamrock Crag is the lower of two crags on the Wasdale side of Scafell.

The Wasdale team had originally been called out at 4.15pm on Friday after a report that a 59-year-old woman had hurt her leg at Sty Head, between Great Gable and Great End.

Fifteen minutes later, the rescuers received another call to say one climber, or possibly two were in difficulty on Shamrock Crag. Cockermouth MRT was called to help the casualty at Sty Head while the Wasdale team diverted to aid the injured pair on Scafell.

After arriving at Shamrock Crag, it became clear that the pair were walkers, rather than climbers.

The injured woman from the first call managed to walk part of the way down and was then carried by stretcher to the valley, where her friends took her to hospital in Whitehaven.