Almost 700 people were rescued by Scottish mountain and cave rescue teams in 2011, an increase on the previous year.

The teams spent about 24,000 hours dealing with the 573 incidents in 2011.

They rescued 693 people, of whom 270 were injured and 52 died, according to the Scottish Mountain Rescue Annual Statistics Report 2011.

In 2010 they dealt with 534 incidents and rescued 659 people.

As in previous years, summer hillwalking led to the highest number of incidents, with 242 in 2011.

Jonathan Hart, chair of the Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland, said: "The Scottish mountain rescue statistics for 2011 once again demonstrate the importance of our service to the communities across Scotland and to the members of the public whom we serve.

"Mountain rescue in Scotland is largely a voluntary activity and I continue to remain immensely proud of the 1100 team members across the country whom regularly give up their time to assist those in distress in our mountains, moorlands and other inaccessible locations, day or night, often in winter, in some of the most hostile conditions a rescuer can ever face.

"Scottish mountain rescue teams have some of the most highly-skilled and experienced rescuers available in the UK and continue to provide an outstanding emergency service to Scottish communities."

Last year just over a quarter (27%) of incidents fell into the non-mountaineering category of activities such as water sports, pony trekking and hang-gliding.

Helicopters from the Royal Navy, RAF or Coastguard helped in more than a third (34%) of all incidents while search-and-rescue dog teams were involved in about a quarter (26%) of them.

In the "overwhelming majority" of cases (63%) the alarm was raised by calls from mobile phones.

Personal locator beacons, which were legalised for use in Scotland in 2011, were used in four incidents.

These report initially to a facility in Denver, US, who then inform the Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC) at RAF Kinloss, Moray.

ARCC then informs police or the Marine and Coastguard Agency depending on whether the location is over sea or land.

Last year the highest number of incidents was in the Northern Constabulary area with 279, followed by 81 in the Strathclyde Police force area.

Community safety minister Roseanna Cunningham praised the teams for the number of rescues they carried out.

She said: "This is a remarkable achievement for an operational service staffed entirely by volunteers."