British Army head, General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, disappeared in a training exercise after being dropped in the wrong field, UK media reported.
Sir Mark, a former commander of the Special Air Services (SAS), dropped from an Army Wildcat helicopter to boost troop morale at the facility, but was unable to locate others after the vehicle departed.
— Lucy Fisher (@LOS_Fisher) November 11, 2020
The general was later found by a greeting party of personnel after he was reportedly unable to phone others due to a mobile dead spot.
“These things happen more than you might realise. It has happened to all of us. You have no idea where you are. It is only when [the helicopter] flutters off and it is quiet that you realise there is no one there, it is a bad sign,” an anonymous Army general told the Sun.
Sir Mark had not gone missing, but was "not where they were expecting him", the UK Army said in a statement.
“The pilot circled overhead and decided to land at an alternative helicopter landing site, around 600 metres away from where they were expecting him to land … They knew where he was the whole time,” an unnamed official said in a statement as quoted by the Independent.
The incident took place a day before UK transport secretary Grant Shapps approved a controversial £2.4bn road tunnel near Stonehenge in the same region.
Sir Mark was appointed Chief of the General Staff in June 2018, and later appointed war veteran Sir Tom Moore to colonel for raising over £32m for the National Health Service (NHS) with his viral YouTube video amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
