Mountain rescue teams and a police helicopter were alerted to search for a missing soldier on Dartmoor today.

The soldier, who was on night training on Dartmoor last night, went missing near Gutter Tor Refuge where trekkers and military personnel under training shelter or spend the night.

The police helicopter spotted the soldier from the air and rescuers picked him up and handed him back to his unit unhurt, but cold.

A Plymouth search and rescue team spokesman said: “The team were called by Devon & Cornwall Police shortly before 7.45am this morning to search for a missing soldier who had been overdue from a night exercise.

“The team gathered at Gutter Tor refuge alongside Dartmoor Search and Rescue Team Tavistock and dog handlers from Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England while a plan was made for likely search locations.

“Small teams were tasked to search for the missing soldier and set off in a ‘bomb burst’ pattern towards the last known location, just in the case the soldier had bedded down for the night in the locality.

“The teams’ search managers sent a text to the missing soldier’s mobile phone. He eventually replied by following a link in the text which gave the team their GPS location.

“A search and rescue team Land Rover with a casualty carer was then tasked to go rendezvous with the soldier a few miles away near to Whiteworks, just outside Princetown.

“The National Police Air Service helicopter had located the soldier from the air just as the rescue team vehicle arrived, so after a quick check over by the team casualty carer, the cold but otherwise ok solider was handed over to their training instructors for a thorough debriefing. The team stood down shortly before 10am.”