Tragedy as hiker dies after fall from Peak District waterfall

A walker has died after falling down a waterfall in the Peak District.

Rescue teams were called to the base of the Kinder Scout after reports of a man falling from the top of the Kinder Downfall waterfall on the 30th June. 

The Kinder Mountain Rescue Team rushed to the area alongside members of the Derbyshire Police at approximately 3:15pm, but the man - who has not been named - was found dead at the scene. 

Due to the location of the body, the Kinder MRT requested assistance from a coastguard helicopter, the Glossop Mountain Rescue Team and the Buxton Mountain Rescue Team's drone team in what would become a ten hour-long mission involving 31 rescuers.

As weather conditions on the side of the mountain worsened, it became too difficult to winch the body from the base of the Downfall.

The team was forced to hoist the man via a stretcher to an area lower down the mountain, where he could be collected by the helicopter and flown to rescue vehicles. 

In a statement released last night (7th July), the Kinder Mountain Rescue Team said: "This was a challenging ten hour incident for all involved.

"We would like to thank the group of walkers who called in the incident for their assistance. The team would like to pass on our sincere condolences to the walker’s family."

The Kinder Mountain Rescue Team is a volunteer search and rescue organisation based in the Peak District, and has been rescuing hikers, animals and conducting missing people searches since 1971. The team relies entirely on donations to operate, which can be made through their JustGiving page here.