The women were walking above The Devil's Beef Tub in the Moffat Hills. Photo: David Neale CC-BY-SA-2.0

An injured walker was airlifted from the Moffat hills in a seven-hour rescue operation.

A night-time search by members of Moffat Mountain Rescue Team led to the discovery of the hypothermic woman near the Devil’s Beef Tub late yesterday.

The team was alerted about 6.30pm after a woman contacted police to say she had become separated from her walking companion on the hills of the Southern Uplands.

A Moffat team spokesperson said: “The two ladies had been walking the Annandale Way in the hills above the Devil’s Beef Tub area near Moffat.

“One of the two ladies contacted the police after having to leave her partner on the hill as she could not walk any further with a hip injury.

“A search of the area by the police helicopter failed to locate the missing person as the team were gathering at Moffat mountain rescue base. The team deployed onto the hill and conducted a search in the area.

“At 11pm the team located the missing person who was unable to walk due to a hip injury and hypothermia. The team made the casualty as comfortable as possible, while starting to prepare equipment for what was going to be a protracted carry out over rough terrain.”

The Prestwick Coastguard Sikorsky S-92 rescue helicopter flew to the scene and was able to winch the injured walker onboard and she was then flown to Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary for treatment.

Moffat Mountain Rescue team leader Colin Golphin said: “The team carried out a search in the dark on a cold night. The team found the casualty as quickly as possible and was grateful for the assistance of Rescue 999 to save the team a long carry out on the ground.”

The rescuers returned to their base about 2am on Sunday.