Patterdale team members in action during the incident. Photo: Patterdale MRT

A group of wild campers was rescued from a Lake District fell during an overnight thunderstorm.

Patterdale Mountain Rescue Team was alerted about midnight on Sunday to go to the aid of three people on Raise.

Colleagues from the Keswick team contacted Patterdale volunteers as bad weather lashed the Cumbrian mountains. A Patterdale MRT spokesperson said: “Keswick had been called out regards three campers who had abandoned their tent and were now lost on Raise.

“At the time of the callout the weather was heavy rain with thunder and lightning.

“Keswick requested assistance from Patterdale MRT due the fact they were already dealing with a number of similar callouts in their area.

“The Patterdale team leader tried to make contact but got no answer. The team were put on standby to await further contact to establish fuller circumstances to allow decision making to send the team out in the hazardous weather which had been predicted and was still in the area.”

The campers made contact again with rescuers about 1am. “They were on Raise and had now taken shelter in their survival bags,” the spokesperson said. “They were unable to navigate off the mountain without assistance due to the poor visibility and darkness.”

A small team responded and located the three campers quickly on the top of Raise and they were helped off the fell to safety. The trio had been wild camping near the Lake District ski hut. When the bad weather came in, they abandoned the tents and then became stranded on Raise.

The spokesperson said, on the same night there were numerous calls from walkers and wild campers who got themselves in similar predicament, despite the accurate weather warning widely published.

Advice from the team is to always check the weather forecast and be prepared accordingly, and know how to navigate in adverse weather for when it goes wrong. Advice can be found on the Adventure Smart website.

The incident involved five Patterdale MRT volunteers and lasted 3½ hours.

The spokesperson added: “It was great to see several Lakes mountain rescue teams working close together that night to deal with the spike in calls – great team work.”