13-year-old girl rescued after falling 150 feet down gorge in New York state park
A girl in New York was rescued after falling around 150 feet into a gorge while visiting a state park, police said.
WHAM and WHEC report a 13-year-old girl fell into a gorge at Letchworth State Park on 8 October. She suffered injuries from the fall but was ultimately able to be rescued, according to New York State Park Police. Authorities have not identified the teen.
Rescuers who arrived at the scene found that she had fallen "150 feet down the slope”, according to police.
It's unclear how the girl actually fell into the gorge and police have not provided further details on the nature of her accident.
Rescuers had to use a high angle rope rescue team to extract the girl from the park. High angle rope rescues are typically used when the angle of the terrain is more than 50 degrees. During these rescuers workers and victims are totally reliant on ropes to secure them due to the steep terrain.
When the rescuers reached the girl, they secured her a stokes basket and attached her to ropes to haul her out of the gorge. Stokes baskets are body-length stretcher-like objects with ropes or buckles that can be used to secure an incapacitated individual. This allows rescuers to haul an injured person out of a difficult to reach space without fear of the victim falling off the stretcher. They are sometimes used in helicopter evacuations as well.
Once the girl was recovered she was taken to a hospital for treatment. Her current condition is unknown, though initial reports suggest her injuries were not life threatening.
Letchworth State Park is located in western New York, about 60 miles southeast of Buffalo. The New York State Parks website calls it the "Grand Canyon of the East" for its wide gorges and more than 60 miles of hiking trails.
