A paraglider was injured and stranded on a Tk'emlups cliffside for hours as search and rescue crews tried to pull him from danger, Nov. 14, 2022. A twelve-person military crew flew a night-certified helicopter from Comox to help with rescue efforts.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kamloops Search and Rescue
November 14, 2022 - 8:43 AM
A paraglider was injured and stranded on a Tk'emlups cliffside for hours as search and rescue crews tried to pull him from danger last night.
Kamloops Search and Rescue was called around 4:30 p.m., Nov. 13, to Mount Paul, where a man fell from a cliff.
"Originally, it came in as a hiker that fell 20 metres, injured, alone and screaming for help," search manager Alan Hobler said. "Because it was now night and the patient was in critical condition, we decided it was paramount to get them right away."
Twelve searchers went out with most scaling to the top of the mountain in order to extract the man from above. Hobler said access was difficult and there was a risk of knocking large rocks loose and down toward the patient.
They eventually decided a helicopter would be best to get him out.
Hobler said a twelve-person military crew flew a night-certified helicopter from Comox to help with rescue efforts, which took about three hours to arrive.
Using the helicopter was no simple feat and while it peppered search crews with snow from its downwash, it had to refuel once in Kamloops before they eventually extracted the paraglider from the mountainside.
A paraglider was injured and stranded on a Tk'emlups cliffside for hours as search and rescue crews tried to pull him from danger, Nov. 14, 2022. A twelve-person military crew flew a night-certified helicopter from Comox to help with rescue efforts.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Kamloops Search and Rescue
"It took much longer than I think anybody anticipated," Hobler said.
At 1:30 a.m., he was finally rescued and treated first by medics in the helicopter.
"Turned out he was a paraglider," Hobler said. "It sounds like his parachute didn't deploy properly as he leaped off the edge."
That was one of three rescues the crew was called to this weekend.
Hobler said they also attended the Inks Lake area for a hiker with a "cardiac issue" and another for a female driver that didn't make it to her destination.
Both were found within hours.
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