Hiker rescued after being trapped under boulder for nine hours
Hiker was found following a multi-agency rescue effort
(CBS News)A hiker who got trapped under a boulder for nine hours has been rescued after managing to free himself and call emergency services for help.
Jason Koch said he was looking for a lost drone in the woods near Calistoga, northwest California, at around 5pm on 23 November when he slipped on a rock.
Mr Koch said a large boulder pinned him to the ground as he fell and his arm became trapped underneath his body.
“Something slams into me and I have moments of excruciating pain,” Mr Koch told CBS News on Saturday.
“From that point on, it was like this fast, laboured breathing. I could barely take a breath like I was going, you know, but I couldn’t actually just taking in the full normal breath, it was all partial."
He added: "So being stuck down there, I found that my left arm was stuck down under below me. I’m kind of laying with my chest sort of flat, but my hips kind of rotated sort of sideways. So it’s a really weird position to be laying in.”
Mr Koch said he had visions of the movie 127 hours, where actor James Franco plays a rock climber who gets trapped between two boulders in the wilderness.
Mr Franco's character, based on the true story of Aron Ralston, used a penknife to cut off his arm in order to free himself.
After some nine hours had passed, Mr Koch said, he finally managed to free himself from the boulder and access his cellphone.
California's Golden State Division Air Operations (CHP) said in a statement it received a call from Cal Fire at around 2.20am on 24 November asking for help to locate a lost hiker.
Using GPS data, the CHP dispatched a helicopter to the location where Mr Koch was trapped. Cal Fire, CHP and the California Highway Patrol then responded to the scene near the Oat Hill Trail.
Cal Fire was able to locate Mr Koch using night vision goggles and its FLIR system, CHP said in its statement.
Mr Koch, who was in off-trail and in "extremely rugged terrain" was able to signal the helicopter by using a small flashlight, the statement added.
He was then airlifted to hospital to receive medical treatment for his injuries, which were described as not life-threatening.
CHP said Mr Koch may not have been found had he not managed to call 911 before his battery died.
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