School trips operator slams BBC for reporting of air rescue
The boss of a Surrey-based school trip specialist has refuted reports about the circumstances surrounding one of its expedition teams who were trapped due to recent floors in Northern India.
A group of 20 students, three staff and five local staff were participating in a three-week developmental expedition in the Ladakh region with the operator, Adventure Lifesign, when they had to be helicoptered to safety.
But in a statement, Adventure Lifesign CEO Alistair Cole said the vast majority of the initial reports from the BBC World Service were inaccurate.
"It’s a pity they had not spoken to us before publishing," he said.
"I can confirm that at no time was the team lost. We have state of the art satellite tracking and communication equipment with our teams and knew exactly where they were at all times. There was no search initiated as they were in a known position.
"The team had to be split for the subsequent airlift that was commissioned as Ledakh is high altitude and helicopters in the region can only carry limited passengers.
"It was the lack of light, not weather that meant that the helicopter could not fly the remaining group out yesterday. This group have subsequently been picked up and are now back in Leh town.
"With regards to claims of injured students, these were either pre-existing stable medical conditions such as asthma or minor travellers’ diarrhoea."
Cole said at no time was the group in danger.
"After the heavy rains began, they initially camped near the swollen Markha river and waited for the rains to subside and river levels to drop," he explained.
"We were in regular contact with the team and they had adequate supplies and camping equipment. Due to their imminent return to the UK, it was decided for speed, to air evacuate them back to Leh airport."
He thanked the Indian authorities and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for their assistance.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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