Mountain search may be a hoax

A team of mountain rescue experts with aerial support from a Guardia Civil helicopter spent over 14 hours yesterday searching for two hikers apparently lost in the Soller area of the island, but last night the search was called off and police said that they could have been dealing with a sick joke. The alarm was raised at 4.30am when the 112 emergency number received the first of two calls from a youngster on a mobile asking for immediate help because he and a friend were lost “near a bridge.” The Soller Red Cross, fire service and the Guardia Civil mounted a search operation for the two teenagers who said they worked in a Can Pastilla hotel. Rescue workers had doubts when they embarked on the search, but called in the helicopter all the same. After a few hours, with no sign of the lads, rescuers called them on the mobile but received contradictory reports of their whereabouts then the mobile's power supply ran out. If it was all a joke, the two lads could be arrested.