A FULL SCALE search for four scouts and their two pack leaders ended successfully yesterday morning when they were located safe and well in the Comeragh mountains, where they had spent an uncomfortable night.
The search was mounted when the group failed to turn up at a rendezvous in the mountain range in north Waterford.
The scouts, ranging in age from 13 to 19, and their leaders from Youghal, Co Cork, had gone to the Comeraghs for a walking and camping weekend.
When they failed to turn up at a prearranged meeting place near Carrick on Suir at 3 p.m. on Saturday, a search was undertaken by the South east Rescue Mountain Association.
Low cloud and poor visibility hampered the effort and a full scale search was mounted at dawn yesterday.
It involved the Rescue Helicopter Service from Shannon, the Garda, the Mountain Rescue Association and Civil Defence units.
The group was located at 10.15 a.m. in a valley near Tory Mountain. Apart from the cold and lack of food, they were uninjured.
They told rescuers they had been caught in fog on the mountain and decided to stay where they were until visibility improved.
They spent an uncomfortable night but, according to a Garda spokesman, were all in good form and delighted to be off the mountains.