The helicopter winchman makes his way into the tight spot. Photo: Cairngorm MRT

Members of Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team were called upon to carry out a rare cave rescue in the Highlands when a boy injured himself.

The nine-year-old fell during an expedition in the passages above Loch Duntelchaig south of Inverness.

A team spokesperson said it was believed to be its first cave rescue. The location is best known for its climbing routes but there are also several dry caving routes through a jumble of massive boulders at the site.

The spokesperson said: “The problem was that he was in a tight little cave, and needed to be packaged then passed through an even tighter passage – you can see the winchman elegantly squirming after the casualty – to emerge on an isolated ledge, from which he could then be airlifted.

“Some nice work with the aircraft and winchman got him out of a tricky spot.”

Team leader Willie Anderson said: This young lad was quite literally in a tight spot, so we deployed a small team to work with the helicopter crew to get him out in the open to a ledge from which he could be airlifted to hospital.”

The spokesperson added that, despite ‘amazing’ weather in the team’s area, Cairngorm MRT has had a steady stream of small incidents, from an odd overdue walker to injured mountain bikers.