ST. GEORGE — A hiker fell about 60 feet Saturday afternoon while walking on the Portal Trail near the 14.5 mile marker of Interstate 15 in the Virgin River Gorge in Arizona.
According to a Facebook post from the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue, the Sheriff’s Office received a notification at approximately 4 p.m. from a personal locator beacon that a 47-year-old man had fallen in a slot canyon just south of gorge.
The post stated that due to the remoteness of the man’s location and the severity of injuries, helicopters from Mercy Air and the Arizona Department of Public Safety Western Air Rescue from Kingman responded.
“In addition, Washington County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue’s team hiked to him and rendered first aid until he could be transported to advanced medical care,” the post said.
After accessing the scene and due to the narrowness of the canyon, the Arizona DPS helicopter with a rescue specialist from Mohave County landed and prepared to perform a technically complicated one-skid egress.
Washington County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue helped carry him to the helicopter, where he was loaded and then transferred to a staging area, where the Mercy Air helicopter transported him to hospital for further care of his injuries.
Chief Jeff Hunt of the Beaver Dam/Littlefield Fire District told St. George News that the hiker had to be airlifted to St. George Hospital after falling in and out of consciousness.
Hunt said an almost identical fall occurred in almost the exact same location and at nearly the same time last year. In that incident on Feb. 4, a 62-year-old Cedar City man fell approximately 20 feet and was transported in “extremely, extremely critical condition,” Hunt said at the time.
Also assisting in Saturday’s rescue was the Beaver Dam/Littlefield Fire District, Arizona Department of Transportation and a trooper with Arizona Department of Public Safety.
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