Text alert sparks cliff rescue

Apr 10 2008 By James Cartledge

A WOMAN was dramatically winched to safety from an island clifftop today after texting her mum in the Midlands for help.

Wendy Jones and her boyfriend Alex Pearson were saved by a helicopter rescue team which pulled them from an area of woodland on the island of Skye at around 3.20am.

A massive land and air search was launched when the 41-year-old found she could not dial 999 because of a weak telephone signal and texted her mum, Ann, back in Walsall. The frantic 65-year-old, from Ajax Close, Great Wyrley, dialled 999 to alert the coastguard.

Mrs Jones, a retired shop worker, today spoke of her immense relief and said she would be eternally grateful to the emergency search teams. "I didn’t know what to think when I received Wendy’s text," she said.

"I rushed to dial 999 but I felt totally powerless because I was hundreds of miles away in the Midlands while Wendy and Alex were in so much trouble. There was nothing I could do except make telephone calls.

"I can’t describe how I felt when Wendy called to say she and Alex had been picked up by the helicopter. The police and the rescue search teams were absolutely fantastic."

Wendy is a 41-year-old artist while Alex is in his late 30s and works for vintage car maker Aston Martin.

They now live at Rugby in Warwickshire.

The couple, who were renting a holiday cottage during their two-week break on Skye, got into difficulties when they strayed off a pathway while out walking at 1pm yesterday.