View from La Maroma mountain.
Jabato Veloz, Pico La Maroma, Malaga, Facebook
Three hikers stranded in the Malaga mountains were finally rescued by the Guardia Civil after becoming dehydrated and disorientated on the region’s highest peak.
The alarm was raised at 5pm on Wednesday 31 when an emergency call came in from one of the men requesting assistance and saying that they had no water and that one of their party had a heart condition.
Rescued mountain hikers did not take enough water
The men were suffering from exhaustion, dehydration and disorientation some 300 metres from the top of the 1,800-metre La Maroma mountain. The Mountain Rescue Group arm of the Guardia Civil along with the local fire brigade were scrambled, but it took them 8 hours to locate and rescue the 3 middle-aged men. Luckily, they were found, given liquids and food and helped back to safety in the nearby village of Sedella and did not need further medical attention.
In 2022 alone, the Guardia Civil had to launch 1,157 operations for mountain hikers in Spain, rescuing 1,600 people. In 93.2% of cases there was no guide present and most incidents occurred due to overestimation of the possibilities of tackling a high mountain activity. Among other elements, that overconfidence came from relying on one of the multitude of telephone apps for hiking routes.
Gauging how much water to take almost impossible in Summer
If a hiker is not going to rely on the services of a professional guide, the Ministry of the Interior recommends, among other things, to wear the correct clothing, take an analogue compass, a first aid kit in a backpack, a careful planned route on a map, a suitable hat to protect from the more intense sun rays, and enough water for the whole day, something almost impossible to estimate in the intense Summer sun of the Malaga mountains.
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