MORE than 70 members of the Dartmoor Rescue Group and local police were involved in a major search on Dartmoor last Friday, in some of the worst weather conditions ever experienced by the teams. A man and a woman, believed to be local, were eventually located at Erme Pound towards Buckfastleigh, at 5.30am on Saturday morning by a helicopter crew from RNAS Culdrose. They were taken to Derriford Hospital suffering from mild hypothermia but later released. The walkers, who had planned to camp on the moor overnight, had contacted the police at about 2pm on Friday to say they were lost. Controller of the Tavistock section of the Dartmoor Rescue Group Bud Francis said 22 members of his team and three search dogs were involved. Mr Francis said: 'There was a lot of confusion over where these people were. 'We had teams from Ashburton and Plymouth as well as ourselves searching different areas of the moor in the hope of finding them. 'With driving rain, low cloud and fog the conditions were horrendous and were certainly as bad as anything I have ever seen in my 22 years with the team.' Inspector Ian Milligan said police had to wait for a break in the weather before the helicopter could be deployed. 'We have many incidents on the moor throughout the year and people can underestimate how dangerous it can we be,' said Inspector Milligan. 'Dartmoor is a beautiful place and we would not want to stop people walking there but they must apply common sense. ' It is essential they tell people where they are going and the likely routes they will be taking. If conditions had continued as bad as they were we could have had a tragedy.'