AN eight-hour search ended in the rescue of two walkers who got lost.

But the Teesdale and Weardale Search and Rescue team, in County Durham, says the walkers might have been rescued quicker simply by dialling 999 to contact them directly.

The team, based in Barnard Castle, found the men near Cow Green Reservoir yesterday morning.

The pair, aged in their 50s and 60s, had been walking the Pennine Way between Newbiggin-in-Teesdale and Dufton, in Cumbria.

But they contacted their family in Stourbridge, in the Midlands, by mobile telephone on Sunday evening to say they did not know where they were.

The family eventually contacted the police, who in turn called in the search and rescue team.

Press officer Steve Owers said: "There was a an awful lot of detailed work to do. We had to talk to the family to find out where these people were, because it wasn't clear at all.

"We decided we'd search the Pennine Way from Cow Green up to Dufton, and because they had mentioned a rifle range, we also started to search on the Warcop ranges."

The men were found at about 8am yesterday, to the south-west of Cow Green reservoir.

Mr Owers said: "The men were cold, wet and miserable, and possibly suffering from hypothermia.

"The conditions were awful. It was torrential rain and they had been out for 24 hours, so they weren't in a good state when we did find them."

The men were airlifted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, by a helicopter from RAF Boulmer.