TWO Irish women have been rescued from the mountains behind the Costa del Sol.
The tourists, aged 30 and 31, had gone for a hike yesterday morning in the Los Montes de Malaga area before becoming lost.
They were unable to find their way back and decided to send a message to a friend who in turn called the 112 emergency services.
The CIMACC 091 centre of the Policia Nacional called the women and kept them on the phone while a search party tracked their coordinates.
The hikers were told to remain where they were to increase the chances of being found quicker.
It took several hours for searchers to find the women, a task made difficult by the high number of different trails, many of them being cut off by passing vehicles.
A Citizen Attention Group patrol eventually found the pair, who had symptoms of exhaustion but did not require medical assistance.
The pals reportedly went for a long walk in the morning and wandered off until they became extremely lost.
Police returned the women to their accommodation in Malaga city.