A WELSHMAN is recovering in a Galway hospital having spent two days and two nights stranded on a Connemara mountainside.
Mr Rhys Jenkins went mountaineering in the Glen Cohen horseshoe of the Connemara Bens on Monday. A local guesthouse owner raised the alarm when he failed to return by Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the Galway Mountain Rescue Team, which began a search with farmers and gardai, found Mr Jenkins, a chartered surveyor who works in London. He had suffered a severe fall while descending from Ben Braoin into the Glen Cohen valley. He was concussed for several hours, had back injuries and a broken ankle.
He had managed to get down the mountain, cross two rivers and the valley floor and negotiate a high wire fence. He got to within earshot of the valley's access road where he collapsed and was later found.
He underwent surgery at Merlin Park Hospital in Galway yesterday and was making a good recovery. A spokesman for the rescue team said Mr Jenkins "showed remarkable courage and determination during his two day ordeal".