Teen dives off 85-foot waterfall — and harrowing rescue takes hours, TN officials say
Rescuers spent hours pulling a 17-year-old up a treacherous trail in a Tennessee state park after he jumped off a waterfall, officials said.
Officials got a call at 10:45 a.m. on June 2 about someone at the bottom of the Cane Creek Falls in Fall Creek Falls State Park, according to a news release from the Piney Volunteer Fire Department.
The teen dived off the 85-foot waterfall into the swimming hole below, the Dunlap Fire Department said in a release.
The teen, who was not identified, suffered severe but non-life-threatening injuries, fire officials said.
The trek to the bottom of the falls is “very steep and difficult,” according to the Piney Volunteer Department. Rescuers and bystanders helped carry the teen from the base of the falls across the creek and up the Cable Trail until they reached the vertical climb up the falls.
Rescue personnel set up a high line and pulled the teen up in a basket for the rest of the climb, according to the Piney department. Rescuers loaded him into an ambulance around 1:15 p.m.
The teen isn’t the first person to jump from the falls within the past week, fire officials said.
On Memorial Day, rescuers had to pull a woman out of the area and take her to the hospital after she jumped off the same waterfall, according to the fire department’s Facebook page.
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