Three of the four climbers killed in an avalanche on Bidean Nam Bian on Saturday have been named by police.
They are Una Rachel Finnegan, 25, from County Antrim who was a junior doctor living in Edinburgh, Tom Chesters, 28, who was a PHD student at Hull University living in Leeds and 24-year-old Christopher Bell, from Balderstone near Blackburn in Lancashire, who was studying for a PHD in Ocean Mapping in Oban.
A fifth climber, a 24-year-old woman from the Durham area, is in a critical condition in a Glasgow hospital with serious head injuries.
The following Statement was released on behalf of the surviving male member of the group of friends caught up in the Glencoe avalanche. He has asked for his name not to be released at this stage.
“On Saturday 19th January 2013, five of my friends and I were descending a mountain in Glencoe named Stob Coire nam Bian in an area known as Church Door Buttress when the party was swept away by a snow avalanche. It is with much sadness and deep regret that some of my friends have died as a result.
“All in the group loved the mountains and are experienced winter walkers.
“Can I ask that members of the deceased’s families and I are left to grieve in privacy at this difficult time.
“My sincere thanks goes to the members of the public, mountain rescue teams and other emergency services who assisted.”
The climbers were caught up in the avalanche on Bidean Nam Bian at about 2pm on Saturday. During a major search operation involving two mountain rescue teams and police dogs the two women and two men were found dead, buried in the snow. It is understood the group were descending from a peak on the south side of the valley, when the slope they were on broke away and swept five of the group down the mountain.
John Grieve, leader of Glencoe mountain rescue team, which co-ordinated the search, confirmed that the rescue call was made by two other climbers who found one of the casualties in the snow. The police were also contacted not long afterwards by the surviving male climber from the group. Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, has expressed his sympathies to the families of all involved, as have representatives of the Mountain Rescue Service.