Boy Scouts Rescued From Mountain

Two Boy Scouts were rescued by helicopter Sunday morning after they failed to return from a hike and spent the night on a mountain, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department reported.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, Jason Scott, 15, and Greg Nielson, 17, both of Huntington Beach, began hiking to San Ysidro Peak in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park with two other Boy Scouts, who later decided against the climb and returned to their troop in the park. But Scott and Nielson continued up a ridge toward the 6,100-foot peak.

When they did not return by evening, Boy Scout officials alerted authorities. The Sheriff’s Department sent 50 members from its search and rescue unit. The San Diego Mountain Rescue Team dispatched 12, and the De Anza Rescue Unit sent 20.

Scott and Nielson, who carried neither food nor sleeping bags, were dressed in lightweight clothes. During the night, temperatures on the mountain dropped into the 30s, said John Wehbring, president of the volunteer San Diego Mountain Rescue Team.

Officers in a Sheriff’s Department helicopter saw the boys and airlifted them at 8 a.m. Sunday, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Jim Cook. The boys did not appear to be injured, Wehbring said.