THREE rescue teams, including a Coast Guard helicopter crew and a water support unit, were summoned to find two walkers who got lost while strolling in dense rhododendron in Killarney National Park.
Two men, one from Dublin and the other from Belgium, became disorientated and couldn’t find their way out of the thick maze and they had to call for help.
The walkers, who set out on Wednesday, had a small tent with them and they had to camp out overnight before they used a mobile phone to summon the Kerry Mountain Rescue Service on Thursday afternoon.
Because of the scale of the problem and the jungle-like spread of the rhododendron, Valentia Coastguard Radio Station was asked to co-ordinate the operation and the Shannon based Rescue 115 helicopter was sent for.
The two men, who were in their 40s, had set out on a forest walk from scenic Dinis Cottage, on the shores of the Lakes of Killarney, on Wednesday morning but they became disorientated as darkness fell.
After camping out that night, they again tried to find their way home on Thursday but they eventually contacted the Kerry Mountain Rescue service at around 11.30am.
Rescue teams struggled to pinpoint their location and the chopper was summoned to search from the air and when the men were located, they were guided to the lake shore where a boatman was waiting to collect them.
A spokesman for the Kerry Mountain Rescue Team said the men were cold and wet but they were not injured and they did not need medical assistance.
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