A Lake District mountain rescue team has warned people about relying only on an app to give their location during an emergency.
Keswick Mountain Rescue Team was called yesterday at around 1.30pm after an 83-year-old woman collapsed and the person calling 999 used What3Words to describe the location, which was logged as near Hawes End.
Members went to the site and could not find anyone.
A spokesman said: “Further enquiries revealed the true location within walking distance of the base in Crow Park. Fortunately more team members had arrived at base and were able to respond quickly to this potentially serious medical incident. The casualty was assessed and stretchered back to base for further assessment and to await the arrival of an ambulance.
“This is the second callout in three days – and there have been others – when the What3Words location has been close enough to be believable but wrong enough to be useless.
“What3Words should not be relied upon on its own. Always give a verbal description of where the casualty is and better still a grid reference from a map or use the app OS-Locate.”
OS-Locate is at https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/apps/os-locate/.
