An injured hiker is recovering in hospital after falling 80 feet while viewing petroglyphs in the Bella Coola Valley Friday, June 16 near the 4 Mile Subdivision.
“It was a real community effort,” said Bella Coola RCMP Sgt. Trevor Romanchych, officer in charge.
He said four members of the detachment attended, along with Bella Coola Valley Search and Rescue (BCVSAR) and the Nuxalk Guardian.
“It was definitely a miracle,” he said of the hiker’s conditions. “We’ve had a few around here.”
Romanchych said BCVSAR and Nuxalk Guardians cut a trail to access the injured hiker and then with members of the RCMP taking turns transported the hiker out on a stretcher basket, which took about two hours.
The party was met by a B.C. Emergency Health Services ambulance and then taken to the Bella Coola Hospital.
There at the hospital, for four hours three doctors and four nurses worked frantically to save his life so that when he was flown out of Bella Coola to a larger hospital, he was in stable condition and arrived in Vancouver alive.
“I am thankful he is alive,” Romanchych said, noting the hiker had lost his footing. “It took the community and all the agencies coming together to get him out safely. It was one of those smiling moments and the benefits of a small place.”
Editor’s note: This article was update with more information about the local hospital’s role in helping the man.
READ MORE: Distressed hiker rescued from Nusatsum Mountain near Bella Coola
monica.lamb-yorski@wltribune.com
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