A ten year old boy has been hailed a hero after he scrambled down a 100metre ravine to help his seriously injured mother and raised the alarm after she fell down an Argyll mountain.

His actions led to his mother being airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after her fall in a six and a half rescue operation.

Oban Mountain Rescue Team was called just before 8pm on Monday evening to the injured woman, after reports she had plunged on steep ground on 3,694ft high Ben Cruachan.

She was on a family outing with her husband and young children aged five, nine and 10 when after they took a wrong turn she crashed on to a mountain ledge, high above a river.

With his father’s phone out of battery the son clambered down the ravine to reach his mum, who had suffered multiple injuries.

And while his father looked after the boy’s two young sisters, the boy used his mother’s mobile phone to raise the alarm.

The Oban Mountain Rescue Team waited until he heard that the mother was out of danger and “comfortable” in Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital before he revealed the boy’s heroic actions.

"Mum fell into a ravine about 100m and the rest of the family were unable to get down to her. Eventually the oldest boy managed to get down to his mother and use her mobile phone to call for help which is where we come into the story," said a team spokesman.

"Whilst we were mobilising he managed to talk to the police giving a location description. A local police unit was dispatched to try and locate them it was dark by this point and luckily the family were well prepared and had a torch.

"Meanwhile the lad was talking to his mum reassuring her that help was on the way and keeping her conscious. It took our hasty party about 30 minutes to get to the scene up a very steep hillside and to set up a basic safety system and to start to treat the casualty all the while the lad was talking to his mum.

"The rest of the team went up the hill heavy with just about all the kit you coud imagine to deal with the situation.

"It takes a while to deal with this sort of situation and the lady was very lucky she stopped where she did as a large drop awaited below."

The rescue helicopter form Prestwick, Rescue 199, was deployed and came in to help deploying its winchman to assist.

"After her injuries were treated the best we could in the situation she was ready to winch. All the while the lad was with his mum talking to her," said the team spokesman.

The team then assisted the rest of the family off the hill.

"He is a brave lad who should get an award for his actions," said the spokesman. "Just getting to his mum was hard then looking after his mother in extreme situation, talking to the police and keeping calm he was amazing."

It is believed the family, who are from the south of England, had been staying in a cabin in the Lochawe area and had gone to climb Ben Cruachan on what was a very pleasant day.

"This was a superb effort by all the Oban MRT team members and Rescue 199 in dealing with a technical rescue on steep ground in the dark," said the spokesman. "It was challenging to access, difficult medically and a challenging lift for the helicopter. The result is that mum is doing well in Glasgow."