It was a triumph of technology over adversity in the great Scottish outdoors.

When walker Niels Vinther took badly ill in a Highland glen early yesterday morning, he used a £149 device to trigger an international rescue spanning almost 10,000 miles via global satellites.

Within two hours, he had made history by becoming the first stranded adventurer to use the system in Europe and, more importantly, had been safely transported to hospital. But then, as the gadget's US maker boasts: "It could be the difference between coming home in coach and coming home in cargo."

Mr Vinther, 60, activated the emergency beacon on his hand-held device, called Spot, after he began suffering from severe abdominal pain while in Glen Etive. The system sent a text message to an emergency response centre in Houston, Texas, using the GPS satellite network to give Mr Vinther's exact location.

Controllers at the centre then contacted police in Fort William, who in turn alerted RAF Kinloss, which scrambled a helicopter from Prestwick.

Mr Vinther, originally from Denmark but now living in Sunderland, was found less than two hours after he activated the device. He was immediately given pain relief and then flown to Belford Hospital in Fort William, where he was last night said to be "comfortable".

Flight Lieutenant Curly Crawford, of RAF Kinloss, said: "If he had not had this device the first anyone would know to raise the alarm would be if he was overdue at his next check-in time. The local police would be called and search teams would be called in. Chances are, because of the terrain, they would have called us for helicopter assistance.

"We would have had a start position and where the man was walking to, but the search area would have been huge. The device has cut down the amount of time it took us. We launched the helicopter to the position and there he was. There was no searching.

"It has saved an awful lot of time and got this gentleman, who was in a great deal of pain, medical assistance quickly."

Mr Vinther, managing director of pump manufacturer Grundfos, recently bought the Spot device before taking part in the annual TGO Challenge, in which participants take up to 15 days to walk across Scotland from west to east.

He began his trek in Oban on Friday and his journey was being tracked online, using the Spot device, by Donald Cruttenden, director of Adventure Trading, which sold it.

He was about 15 miles south of Fort William when he began suffering severe stomach pains in the middle of the night. After two hours he tried to use his mobile phone, but there was no signal.

He activated the Spot device at around 3am and a message detailing his location was sent to relatives, colleagues and the GEOS emergency response centre in Houston, which co-ordinates worldwide rescues.

The message read: "Help message. I'm immobilised but okay and cannot reach you by phone. Find GEOS on Google map and send help."

Controllers in Houston received the message and set the rescue process in motion.

A spokeswoman for Grundfos said that Mr Vinther, who has completed the TGO Challenge once before, had praised rescuers for their swift response. "He said they did a sterling job and he couldn't praise them enough."

Mr Cruttenden said: "There is absolutely no doubt that Spot does save lives. It gives you an exact time and location so it cuts out the search."

The Spot device has previously been activated in America, Canada, the North Pole and on one occasion when a kayaker encountered difficulties off the coast of Tasmania.

Greg Tees, Spot general manager Europe, said yesterday's incident was a perfect example of the need for the device.