Two women rescued from Mangerton Mountain in Kerry

Two women were rescued from Mangerton Mountain in Co Kerry on Saturday afternoon after losing their bearings on the descent.

The women, both Irish, and in their forties, called the emergency services for help at 3pm on Saturday and thirty members of the team were dispatched from the Killarney side of Mangerton in trying to locate them.

The women were located at 7pm near a lake in the Horses Glen area to the east of Mangerton and some distance from the well-worn pathway, on steep and dangerous ground . They were walked down and reached the base camp at around 9.30 pm.

Alan Wallace, spokesman for the rescue team said the two ladies had lost their bearings on their way down the mountain.

Mangerton is considered a relatively easy walk compared with the Reeks - however this is only if people stick to the pathways, he said and weather changes rapidly on the mountain.

Mobile coverage was very limited but the rescuers managed to patch together the ladies’ location. They were cold and wet and there was “swirling wind”.

“You can go out with the best of intentions and become disorientated,” Mr Wallace said.

The walkers were reasonably well equipped, he also said.

Kerry Mountain Rescue has said "navigational error" is increasingly a feature of search and rescues on the Kerry mountains.

Saturday afternoon’s rescue is the second in recent weeks and one of a number in the past months due to rapidly changing weather.