Lifesaving volunteers gave up more than 22,000 hours of their time

Scottish Mountain Rescue teams attended hundreds of incidents last year.

The Scottish Mountain Rescue Annual Statistical Report 2016 has revealed that teams in Scotland were called out 733 times.

There were 436 incidents – with some incidents resulting in multiple callouts – and 54% of these related to mountaineering, where those involved have been climbing or hillwalking.

The report found that 627 people were helped – with 22,697 hours being volunteered in 2016.

August was the month with the highest number of incidents, with 36% of reports occurring at the weekend.

The report states that teams have had to expand in recent years to meet the changing demands of their services.

It said: “Mountain Rescue Teams grew locally as a result of a need in their community. Over time, the needs of the community changed, and with it the capabilities of the MRT’s to respond to these needs. Throughout 2016, teams have continued to respond to a wide variety of calls for help...”

There were 29 fatalities reported during the period, whilst 327 of those who required assistance were uninjured.

Teams were asked to respond to a wide variety of events - the most frequent of which is in response to a missing person enquiry.