A volunteer-run mountain rescue charity. 28 incidents featured here.
A runner participating in the Spine Challenger North race collapsed on the Pennine Way in the Cheviot Hills near the Scotland-England border. She was found unconscious by a walker and evacuated by the Scottish Charity Air Ambulance with assistance from Border Search and Rescue Unit and other mountain rescue teams.
Outcome: evacuated by air ambulance to primary care
A search and rescue operation was launched after a fishing boat sank in Carlingford Lough on Tuesday, 2 June. Following extensive efforts involving multiple emergency services, the body of one crew member was recovered from the water later that evening.
Outcome: Fatality (Body Recovered)
A mountaineer was found dead in the "Hole" of Hajla. Search and Rescue Service personnel recovered the body and published footage of the recovery operation.
Outcome: body recovered by Search and Rescue Service
Outcome: The runner was safely transported to the Border Hotel at Kirk Yetholm after a six-hour rescue effort.
A walker sustained a significant lower leg injury after slipping on North Berwick Law. The rescue unit attended the scene to administer pain relief and plan an extraction route before transporting the individual.
Outcome: Transported for further care
Andrew Robinson, a 50-year-old man from Co Armagh, has been missing since 15 November 2025 after his vehicle was found near the River Bann in the Portadown area. A cross-border search and rescue operation involving police, Coastguard, boat crews, and dive teams has been ongoing, with appeals issued for experienced divers to assist in continuing the search.
Outcome: ongoing search operation
A Turkish military cargo plane crashed on the border between Georgia and Azerbaijan. Search and rescue operations were launched following the incident, and an investigation has been initiated by Georgian authorities.
Outcome: Fatalities reported; investigation underway
A mountain rescue search was launched after an abandoned trolley bag containing outdoor equipment was found on the Pennine Way near the Cheviot Hills. Initial concerns about a missing person were alleviated when social media and local reports helped locate the walker who had safely ditched the broken trolley.
Outcome: The walker was found safe and well.
A walker in the Cheviots suffered a lower leg injury after turning his ankle and hearing a snap while on a hill walk north of Windy Gyle. The Border Search and Rescue Unit located him using GPS and vehicle access, treated him on scene, and transported him to hospital.
Outcome: casualty treated and transported to hospital by mountain rescue team
A father and son were rescued from The Schil in the Cheviots on Sunday afternoon after both suffered heat exhaustion during a two-day walking trip. The father became unwell at the summit, vomiting and losing consciousness, prompting his son to call 999. Both were treated for dehydration and heat-related illness by Border Search and Rescue Unit and evacuated by vehicle.
Outcome: both casualties treated and evacuated by vehicle
A body was recovered from the River Tweed near Kelso on 10 October 2023 by police officers assisted by the Border Search and Rescue Unit. Formal identification has taken place and police have determined there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.
Outcome: body recovered
Two runners competing in the Spine Race ultramarathon were rescued from Auchope refuge hut near Cheviot summit after being caught in overnight snow showers and high winds. Both competitors were assessed by race medics and were able to walk to vehicles for transport. Mountain rescue teams from Northumberland and Scottish Borders coordinated the response, with all personnel safely evacuated.
Outcome: both runners walked to waiting Land Rover and were transported to Kirk Yetholm
Emergency services from across Northern Ireland assisted with rescue efforts following a service station explosion in Creeslough. Personnel from various agencies worked through Friday afternoon and into Saturday morning to search the rubble for survivors.
Outcome: Rescue efforts were conducted by multiple emergency services.
A man slipped while running with a local club in the Pentland Hills and suffered a suspected dislocated knee. He was attended to by members of the running club and Police Scotland before being rescued by Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue with assistance from Border Search and Rescue Unit, and was transported to hospital.
Outcome: casualty evacuated to hospital by stretcher
A man died after his clothing caught fire while he was working on an estate in the Lammermuir Hills. Emergency services attended the scene when the incident occurred on Monday afternoon. The individual was airlifted to a hospital but sadly passed away the following day.
Outcome: Fatality
A competitor in the Montane Spine Race collapsed and injured himself on Border Ridge at Score Head during the endurance event along the Pennine Way. He was treated by medical personnel and stretchered from the remote location by Northumberland National Park Mountain Rescue Team and North of Tyne team, then transported to hospital by ambulance.
Outcome: casualty stretchered off hill and transported to hospital by ambulance
Two Danish students were rescued from the Cheviot Hills after becoming exhausted and cold during their first day of a planned six-month UK walking trek. The pair, who had arrived in Britain the previous day, lost equipment and missed a refuge hut in wintry conditions before requesting assistance. Border Search and Rescue located them using mobile phone technology and escorted them to safety unharmed.
Outcome: both casualties warmed and walked to safety unharmed
A group of 10 walkers and two dogs were rescued from Windy Gyle in the Cheviot Hills after becoming stranded in severe winter conditions. Four mountain rescue teams involving 64 people conducted a 10-hour operation in heavy snow, locating the group after three and a half hours of searching. Three members of the group required urgent medical treatment, including two for hypothermia, and were transported off the hill by a local farmer's 4x4 vehicle.
Outcome: all safely rescued; three members received urgent medical treatment and were taken to hospital
A walker found in severe hypothermia on the Border Ridge during the Spine Race on 16 January 2016 was treated at the Auchope Shelter and evacuated by Coastguard helicopter. The rescue team credited the mountain refuge hut with saving the casualty's life, and he was expected to make a full recovery.
Outcome: evacuated by Coastguard helicopter, expected to make full recovery
A mountain biker failed to return from a ride in the Cheviots on 15 January 2015 in severe winter weather. Multiple mountain rescue teams and a RAF helicopter conducted an extensive overnight search in extreme conditions, which was scaled back at 11am on 16 January with no sightings reported.
Outcome: search suspended overnight pending further information
Mountain rescue teams from the Border Search and Rescue Unit, Tweed Valley, and Northumberland responded overnight to assist dozens of motorists stranded by heavy snow at Carter Bar on the A68 between Scotland and England. Working with police, volunteers used specialist vehicles to help tow cars and lorries to passable sections of road so journeys could resume.
Outcome: vehicles towed to passable road sections, motorists assisted
A man in his 60s from Lincolnshire was rescued near the end of his multi-stage Pennine Way walk after an old knee injury recurred and worsened between Windy Gyle and Auchope Refuge Hut. Border Search and Rescue Unit members evacuated him by stretcher and Land Rover, completing the operation in less than two hours.
Outcome: casualty evacuated by stretcher and Land Rover
Border Search and Rescue Unit assisted an exhausted 49-year-old runner competing in the Montane Spine Race ultramarathon who had activated his GPS SOS tracker after becoming depleted and at risk of hypothermia at Windy Gyle on the border ridge. A helicopter was unable to land due to poor visibility, so a team of ten volunteers hiked to the casualty's location and provided warmth and support before safely evacuating him on foot.
Outcome: casualty warmed, rewarmed and reassured with hot tea and shared body heat, then walked off the hill supported by rescue volunteers to a Land Rover
Five walkers became lost in darkness on the Pennine Way in the Cheviots after underestimating the distance and leaving late in the day with inadequate equipment. They developed early symptoms of hypothermia and were located by an RAF Sea King helicopter and airlifted to safety. All five were treated for hypothermia and other minor injuries by mountain rescue medics.
Outcome: all five airlifted by RAF helicopter and treated for hypothermia; one with chest pain complaint
The body of a 24-year-old student missing since Boxing Day was found by specialist search volunteers in St Margaret's Loch in Edinburgh's Holyrood Park. Police confirmed there were no suspicious circumstances. The recovery operation involved members of the Borders Underwater Search Unit, Border Search and Rescue Unit, and Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team.
Outcome: body recovered
Eight ultra marathon runners competing in the Spine Race sought shelter in mountain refuge huts in the Cheviots during blizzard conditions on the Border Ridge. The runners wisely used the emergency shelters overnight and were escorted off the hill by Mountain Rescue the following morning without serious incident.
Outcome: sheltered overnight in refuge huts; escorted off the hill by Mountain Rescue with no casualties
Border Search and Rescue Unit and the Underwater Search Unit recovered the body of a man in his 60s from the River Tweed near Ladykirk after an aerial search and ground search proved unsuccessful. The body was located in the water less than an hour into the dive team's search, hampered by high river levels and dense vegetation following heavy rain.
Outcome: body recovered from river
A man fell into the River Tweed near Rennies Bridge in Kelso on Sunday afternoon and was rescued by firefighters with assistance from the Border Underwater Search Team and Border Search and Rescue Unit. He was taken to Borders General Hospital for treatment with injuries not thought to be serious.
Outcome: rescued and taken to hospital for treatment