A dramatic search and rescue operation took place on the top of Cuilcagh Mountain on Boxing night after friends Conor McGandy and Paul Colville (both 27) became disorientated and couldn’t find their way off the summit.

Lost for four hours at the top of Cuilcagh, sheltered behind rocks on a bitterly cold night, Conor McGandy, from Lisbellaw, was determined to make it home unscathed. He tells The Impartial Reporter: “It wasn’t a case of making it through the night, it was a case of getting off the mountain that night.” His friend Paul Colville, from Enniskillen, was equally worried. He remembers feeling “uneasy”. “We knew that we had to make a move because we were so cold and so tired.” Hunkering down in the dark and mist, it was so cold (-5 degrees with wind chill) that their mobile phone batteries were “zapped”, but not before they dialled 999 and were put through to the North West Mountain Rescue Team (NWMRT).

Facing the possibility of hypothermia or falling into a sink hole, the friends, who are keen outdoor enthusiasts, were “very thankful” when they were eventually located by the NWMRT volunteers, four hours after making the 999 call.

“We set off from the geopark carpark at 12.30, which, in hindsight, was a bit late for this time of the year,” Paul recalls. “We met people coming off it and they said it wasn’t too bad.” With the new boardwalk, the pair ascended the mountain in “normal time” (around two-and-a-half hours).

“Luckily enough, we’d never been as prepared. We had three layers of trousers, hats, boots, gaiters and head torches,” Conor recounts.

Once at the top, with increasing fog and visibility at only 20 metres, the pair could not locate the cairn.

“We thought we’d better head back, but we weren’t sure where we were. There are a couple of steep drops off the summit and we were afraid of falling off the side,” Paul says. “We weren’t sure-footed so we shuffled our feet. We kept trying to find the boardwalk for a long time but it was too hard and we were getting tired,” Conor explains.

At 5pm, they decided to call 999 and were reassured by speaking to the NWMRT.

Conor recalls: “We just had to trust them completely,” adding: “At that stage, it was so cold you could hardly take your hand out of your glove to swipe your phone.” Meanwhile, Keith Thompson – a lawnmower maintenance man from Ballinamallard and a NWMRT volunteer – was driving home from Ballinamallard United’s defeat to Dungannon Swifts when he received the text message notification from the PSNI at 5.30pm.

Keith and 12 other local volunteers decided that the technical equipment and software that might have been employed to trace the lost walkers would not work in the cold, dark and worsening conditions.

“It was down to boots on the ground with the volunteers searching inch by inch for four hours, in snow which was up to two feet deep in places, with torches and calling out to the walkers,” Keith explains.

At 9.30pm, when they were less than 50 metres apart, the rescuers found the stricken walkers.

“We were so relieved and so thankful,” says Paul. “The rescue team were brilliant; so efficient,” Conor adds.

Keith points out: “The men were in potential life-threatening danger, facing severe hypothermia if they had not been found that night.” Ten hours after they had set off, Paul and Conor made it to the bottom of Cuilcagh, where the Ambulance Service and the PSNI were waiting, along with friends.

“We are so grateful. We couldn’t believe how many volunteers and emergency services had come out on Boxing night just to find us.” Conor and Paul were informed that a loud cheer went up in Magee’s pub when news of their rescue came through. They conclude: “Next year, we’ll just go to Magee’s instead.”