A FAMILY told yesterday of their nightmare at being caught in a freak Scottish landslide.

Alan and Gillian Muxworthy and their children Ben and Sarah, from County Durham, were caught up in the first of two landslides in Glen Ogle, north of Stirling, on Wednesday.

More than 50 people, airlifted to safety after the landslides engulfed the road, were lucky to be alive, police said yesterday.

The Muxworthy family, from Great Lumley, had been visiting the town of Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull, where the children's TV show Balamory is filmed.

Their new Audi A4 was hit by a wall of mud as they drove from Mull to Edinburgh.

Local residents were alerted to the family's plight after a frantic Mr Muxworthy blasted his car horn to attract attention.

The 40-year-old distribution manager was able to rescue his children, five-year-old Ben and Sarah, seven, who has Down's syndrome, from the car.

He waded through waist-deep water with the youngsters before passing them to firefighters.

Mrs Muxworthy, 35, said: "We were trying to get to higher ground when suddenly this huge gush of black, muddy water just came and covered the car.

"It just stopped and there was no power left in the vehicle.

"Water was well up to the doors and our two small children were in the back.

"Ben was terrified because he could see the water at his window.

"Sarah didn't understand exactly what was happening.

"We just kept hitting the horn, and waving our arms.

"We thought the worst of it would pass and run away, but the water was actually rising and we decided we had to get out.

"The horn was heard by a couple nearby and Alan just said we had to get the kids out. He grabbed them from the car. I don't know where he got the strength from to lift them both and drag himself through the water, which was up at his waist.

"The firemen grabbed the children and then me, and Alan was last in the fire engine."

The family were put up overnight by a local couple in the village.

Mrs Muxworthy added: "We were all a little frightened, but we're all safe and we've been shown wonderful hospitality."

The family returned home to Great Lumley, near Chester-le-Street, in a hire car last night, while the RAC was trying to recover their own vehicle.

Torrential rain was blamed for the two landslips and others in the same area.

The operation to clear the road of the tonnes of mud, rock, silt and rubble was continuing yesterday with the A85 remaining closed.

Experts said they could not rule out the possibility of further landslides if it began to rain again.