A group of hikers was rescued from Mount Ord overnight after they called Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for help.
According to MCSO, a church group went for an afternoon hike on Saturday at Mount Ord, northeast of the Valley. The group consisted of 17 children and seven chaperones.
Around 5 p.m., the group called for help, saying they were lost. A short time later, they let MCSO know they found their way and canceled their call for assistance.
However, a short time later, someone in the group called for help saying they were stuck on a cliffside in the dark.
Search and Rescue teams were called out to find the group. Fortunately, by 1 a.m. Sunday, all 24 people in the group were found and flown out by MCSO helicopter.
MCSO told ABC15 Saturday that the group of hikers included children and adults from Scottsdale, but did not give further info on the hikers.
Samantha Malcolm, a mother of a 12-year-old girl on the hike, said she knew something was wrong when she arrived to pick up her daughter around 4:30 p.m and realized they weren't there. Around 5:15 p.m, parents decided to call police for help.
"I don't know if they overestimated or underestimated how quickly they would be able to get through the hike or if they got lost in the hike or a combination of both," said Malcolm. "By the time rescue teams were getting called in it was getting so dark, it took until, I mean, my daughter came off the mountain at 1:15 in the morning last night."
No one in the group suffered any major injuries.
"My daughter won't be hiking ever again with them. I'll tell you that much. I'd like a little more explanation on what went wrong," said Malcolm.
