BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — Flight nurses carried fresh blood through the darkness to save the life of a hiker who fell off a remote mountain in North Carolina.
Just after sunset on Saturday, Burke County Search And Rescue responded to a report of an injured hiker falling approximately 45 feet from the top of Hawksbill Mountain in the Linville Gorge Wilderness area, according to WSOC-TV.
Burke Rescue said that around 7 p.m. they received reports about a hiker who had fallen approximately 45 feet from the top of Hawksbill Mountain. https://t.co/b0qv0jl96t
— WSOCTV (@wsoctv) October 16, 2022
After making contact with the hiker, Burke County EMS determined that the hiker would need a blood transfusion before being moved off the mountain due to their injuries.
While EMS was stabilizing the hiker, Burke Rescue said they had to use ropes “to set up a horizontal raise” to bring the hiker back to the summit of the mountain.
Unfortunately, high winds at the top of the mountain made a rescue too dangerous for Mountain Area Medical Airlift, and rescuers decided to carry the hiker off the mountain instead.
According to WSOC, while rescue crews were working to carry the injured hiker through the woods, the MAMA helicopter was able to land at another location. Meanwhile, the Burke County EMS was able to transport their crew via ambulance near the Hawksbill trailhead.
Flight nurses from the MAMA helicopter then hiked in fresh whole blood up the mountain. According to Burke Rescue, the nurses eventually joined the rescue crews on the trail, and a successful blood transfusion was administered.
The injured hiker and emergency crews finally made it off the mountain around 1 a.m. The injured hiker was then transported to a nearby trauma center.
Burke County Search and Rescue said they believe this was the first time a whole blood delivery had been made in the remote Linville Gorge.
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