Three climbers airlifted to hospital after being swept 450ft down Scottish mountain by avalanche

Two avalanches hit the Coire an t-Sneachda area of the Cairngorms today

• The three men escaped serious injury because they were wearing helmets
• They were airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness by RAF rescue team

Three climbers have been airlifted to hospital after being caught up in an avalanche and swept 450ft down the side of a Scottish mountain.
The three men had been climbing in the Coire an t-Sneachda area of the Cairngorms when the avalanche struck shortly before 11.30am.
Police who arrived at the scene first were assisted by members of Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team, an RAF helicopter and a Strathclyde Police mountain rescue team, who were training in the area.

Scene: The three men were caught up in one of two avalanches to hit the Coire an t-Sneachda area of the Cairngorns in Scotland today (file picture)

The climbers were taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. Rescue teams said they only escaped life-threatening injuries because they were all wearing safety helmets one of which was left with a large gash down the side.
One of the men suffered two broken ankles in the avalanche.
Training officer Al Gilmour said: 'Strathclyde Police Mountain Rescue are training in the area so they were on the hill and we also had Killin Mountain Rescue and Cairngorm Ski Patrol on the scene really quickly and that was followed by a rescue helicopter.
'There was actually a separate avalanche in the area before we got the call out for the later one with three people. Two people involved in that walked away completely unscathed so they were lucky.