Durham woman injured in Glencoe avalanche (From The Northern Echo)
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Durham woman injured in Glencoe avalanche
12:57pm Sunday 20th January 2013 in News
Climbers make their way off Bidean nam Bian in the Scottish Highlands by torchlight yesterday.
A WOMAN from the Durham area is in a critical condition in hospital after surviving an avalanche which killed four people in the Scottish Highlands, it has emerged.
The 24-year-old woman was taken to hospital with serious head injuries.
She has been transferred to the Southern General in Glasgow where she remains in a critical condition.
Prayers have been said for the victims of the avalanche, who were among a party of six on Bidean Nam Bian, a mountain near Glencoe.
It is believed they were descending from a peak on the south side of the valley when the snow-covered slope they were crossing broke away, engulfing five of them and sending them hundreds of feet down the mountain.
The Rev Moira Herkes, who led a service at St Mundas Church in nearby Ballachulish, told the congregation: "We include in our prayers thoughts for the deceased in yesterday's tragic accident on the mountain and their families.
"Somehow life must continue. We accept the challenges of nature as part of our living."
She added: "We also pray for the people who are injured, both physically and emotionally.
"And we give our thanks to those prepared to risk their lives in the saving of others, and do so with a sense of commitment and through thinking beyond themselves."
Glencoe and Lochaber mountain rescue teams and police were scrambled and following a major search two men and two women were found dead, buried beneath the snow.
Another man who stayed with the teams to help the search survived, while a woman is in Belford hospital in Fort William with serious head injuries. The four dead climbers have yet to be named.
Scotlands First Minister Alex Salmond has called it an appalling tragedy, saying to lose four people from a party of six is truly devastating.
He thanked the police and mountain rescue teams, adding: "Our immediate thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who have been lost."
Police are expected to interview the surviving man today to find out exactly what happened during the tragedy.
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