PROVO CANYON, Utah, Jan. 12, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A teenager who fell and hit his head while hiking at Bridal Veil Falls was hoisted off the rock face into a LifeFlight helicopter and taken to a nearby hospital.
The 17-year-old boy fell into an area that was hard to reach, Sgt. Spencer Cannon, Utah County Sheriff’s Office, told Gephardt Daily.
Expert climbers with technical gear were brought in for the rescue, and LifeFlight headed to the site, with officials unsure if the hoist could reach the victim or whether an even more difficult and challenging ground rescue would be required.
Just before 9:30 p.m., Cannon tweeted the good news:
“LifeFlight and UCSO SAR hooking the 17 year old victim to the hoist in the cliffs above Bridal Veil Falls. The 17 year old was taken to an ambulance 1,200 feet below, where he was transported to Utah Valley Hospital.”
The teen sustained a head injury, but Cannon said he is expected to recover.
See the dramatic video, shared by the UCSO, below:
LifeFlight and UCSO SAR hooking the 17 year old victim to the hoist in the cliffs above Bridal Veil Falls. The 17 year old was taken to an ambulance 1,200 feet below where he was transported to Utah Valley Hospital. He sustain a head injury but is expected to recover. pic.twitter.com/MoaUAqt7gL
— Spencer Cannon (@SGTCannonPIO) June 13, 2019
Earlier, the outcome did not look so positive.
“He’s in a very difficult place to access,” Cannon told Gephardt Daily just before 7 p.m. “It’s going to require technical skills to get to him, and technical climbing gear. LifeFlight is on the way with a hoist. If they can’t get to him, it’s going to be several hours, and it could be longer.”
The teen was conscious, Cannon said, but “is having some blurred vision, and is getting a little cold because of the shade and the water up there.”
Cannon tweeted at 7:05 p.m. that LifeFlight had landed. See the video below. At 7:10 p.m. Cannon tweeted that SAR crews had reached the teen.
LifeFlight with hoist has landed. First SAR teams almost arrived with the patient. pic.twitter.com/weTWFzuRir
— Spencer Cannon (@SGTCannonPIO) June 13, 2019
