A climber trapped on a snowy mountain in Britain was rescued after he used the flame from his cigarette lighter to guide a helicopter crew which spotted him from 12 kilometres away, media reports said Monday.
The rescue helicopter crew used night vision goggles to spot the flicker after the 25-year-old man had plunged some 100 metres on Mount Snowdon, at 1,000 metres the highest mountain in Wales, dpa reported.
Despite dangling from an icy ledge, the climber had managed to alert friends on his mobile phone, the Daily Mirror reported.
"He had flicked the lighter so that he might be spotted, and the flame was just enough to be seen through our night vision goggles," a rescue team member told the Daily Mirror.