The crew of the RAF Sea King found the DofE group

A group of teenagers taking part in a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award was praised for its actions after one of the party was taken ill.

Nine of the south Wales youngsters, aged 16 and 17, were making their way across the Black Mountain in the Brecon Beacons when one of them had a severe asthma attack.

A boy and girl from Brecon hiked 7km (4⅓ miles) across difficult terrain in the dark to reach a farmyard and raise the alarm.

The remaining six stayed on the hill to look after their poorly companion, taking it in turns to care for him in a two-person tent they put up.

Central Beacons Mountain Rescue Team was alerted at 9.50pm yesterday, Friday, and was joined by members of the Brecon Mountain Rescue Team, Western Beacons Mountain Search and Rescue Team, along with handlers and animals from the Search and Rescue Dogs Association.

The teenage expeditioners who had started out from Llanddeusant, heading for Dan-yr-Ogof, were unable to give rescuers a grid reference for their location.

An RAF Sea King helicopter crew from RNB Chivenor also joined the search and found the group near the Afon Twrch, north of Ystradowen, about midnight.

The helicopter airlifted the ill boy and his companions to a sports field in Ystradowen, in two trips, and the poorly walker was taken to Morriston Hospital in Swansea for further treatment after being given oxygen and nebuliser drugs by rescuers.

A spokesman for Brecon MRT said: “The hill party, although unable to give a reliable grid reference for their location, did the right thing. They were well equipped and the incident could have been a lot worse.”

It was the second rescue in a week for the south Wales mountain rescue teams and the RMB Chivenor crew, which took part in the rescue of more than two dozen Duke of Edinburgh’s Award expeditioners and teachers in foul weather on Wednesday at Llyn y Fan Fach in the Black Mountain.