The Vernon Search and Rescue winch team helicopter on the landing pad at Kelowna General Hospital.
Image Credit: Global Okanagan/Dave Hauber (with permission)
November 30, 2014 - 3:03 PM
LUMBY – A 51-year-old Kelowna man out hunting near Lumby is lucky he had cell service when he took a tumble into a snowy ravine Saturday afternoon.
A B.C. Ambulance crew and Vernon Search and Rescue volunteers found the man lying on the ground about 8 kilometres up Harris Creek Road near Echo Lake just after 1 p.m.
“His artificial hip had popped out of its socket and he couldn’t move,” search leader Pete Wise says.
Because it was so cold, -17 C when they found him, Wise says they went with a full-blown response, including the helicopter winch team.
The paramedics, along with the search and rescue personnel, kept the hunter warm while waiting for the helicopter to arrive.
Wise says the winch team picked him up and flew him to Kelowna General Hospital. The man was suffering from hypothermia.
“He said he had a couple of bars on his cell phone so he got really lucky, otherwise he could have still been there,” Wise says.
“If you’re going out into the bush you want to make sure you tell somebody where you are going so when we go looking for you it will speed up the process, especially when it’s so cold.”
To contact the reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander at halexander@infonews.ca or call 250-491-0331. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014