ON Saturday afternoon, the Tavistock team of Dartmoor Search and Rescue were called out to the Tamar Trails centre at 12.32pm to assist the ambulance service with a collapsed female walker in the woodland at the Tamar Trails in Gulworthy.

Two members were deployed from Tamar Trails Car Park to establish the exact location of the casualty. On arrival at the site they were informed that the casualty had sadly passed away.

The rest of the team members then took equipment and a wheeled stretcher to recover her down to the waiting ambulance.

Team leader Paul Hudson said: 'The casualty was a 71-year-old lady, a local resident, who was part of a walking group that were in these woodlands. She had collapsed on a track. A road ambulance and Devon Air Ambulance responded (landing in a field near the woodland) and we were mobilised to help them, having received reports of a cardiac arrest from the police, however this information would have come from the member of the public who phoned in; sometimes people confuse 'cardiac arrest' with 'heart attack'. However when we arrived, the emergency services determined that she had passed. We had to locate them via grid reference and find the casualty site in thick and muddy conditions.'