2 in ‘serious’ condition after 45-foot fall from Kentucky cliff

NADA, Ky. (FOX 56) — Two people were flown to a Lexington hospital after falling dozens of feet off a cliff near the edge of the Red River on Tuesday afternoon, after a cooperative rescue operation carried out by several agencies across Kentucky.

Powell County Search and Rescue posted on Facebook that around 3 p.m. on Sept. 30, crew members were dispatched, and emergency personnel were sent to the base of Courthouse Rock, where two people had fallen “an estimated 45 feet.”

Powell County 911 dispatchers utilized software called RapidDeploy to provide first responders with the exact GPS coordinates of the injured pair. Crews with Middlefork Fire and Rescue teamed up with the Wolfe County Search and Rescue Team to clear a path, and a Sked stretcher was brought out to get one of the fall victims out of the area, with rope systems being used to move the other out of harm’s way.

Both patients were stabilized by EMS personnel and taken to two awaiting air medical helicopters from Hazard and Somerset, which used a private field nearby to land.

“They were flown from the scene to UK Chandler Medical Center in stable but serious condition,” Powell County rescue officials wrote.

Those involved in the rescue said that each team member in and out of Powell County, as well as bystanders who helped, were vital to the operation’s success.

While returning from the cleared scene, Wolfe County rescue crews got a second call that a pair of hikers had gotten lost near Angel Windows. A remote team member was reportedly able to find out the lost pair’s exact location, guiding them safely to the trailhead.