One of the stranded vehicles. Photo: Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team

One of the stranded vehicles. Photo: Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team

Rescuers were called out in the early hours to rescue seven people from a Lancashire fell in sub-zero temperatures after their off-road vehicles got bogged down.

Two children, aged four and two, were among the party led to safety from Easington Fell by members of Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team.

The team was called at 3.30am by police when three 4×4 vehicles got stuck in a bog on the hill in the Forest of Bowland.

Two vehicles initially got stuck and a third, which had come to help them, also got stranded in the peat bog.

Team leader Kevin Camplin said: “Initially we were given the wrong location, about a mile from the actual place they were.

“I used the mountain rescue Sarloc and pinpointed them exactly, then we sent the rescue team to recover them.”

The scene of the rescue. Photo: Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team

The scene of the rescue. Photo: Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team

Sarloc, developed by former Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation member Russ Hore, sends a hyperlink to the stranded person’s smartphone which, when followed, allows specialised software to get a fix on the phone.

Mr Camplin said: “We found on scene that we couldn’t get our mountain rescue Land Rovers near to the casualty site due the poor conditions underfoot – peat bog and saturated – so we walked them the short distance, about 500m, back to our vehicles and then drove them off Grindleton Fell near Clitheroe to the village of Grindleton where we then handed them over to the police so they could then go home.

“We found the casualties cold and very fed up.”

A dog that was with the vehicle occupants was also rescued.

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