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Helicopter rescues injured hiker from West Coast Trail

Search-and-rescue personnel from Canadian Forces Base Comox flew to the West Coast Trail south of Nitinat Lake to rescue a hiker with a leg injury on Wednesday.
Hiker rescue
The crew of a Royal Canadian Air Force CH-149 Cormorant helicopter prepares to rescue an injured hiker on a remote part of the West Coast Trail. Photograph by Canadian Forces Base Comox

Search-and-rescue personnel from Canadian Forces Base Comox flew to the West Coast Trail south of Nitinat Lake to rescue a hiker with a leg injury on Wednesday.

The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Victoria received the call from Parks Canada, who had been contacted by the hikers via personal radio.

Parks first responders used a rigid-hull inflatable boat to reach the hikers, who were near Dare Point, about 35 kilometres from the Gordon River trailhead near Port Renfrew.

A helicopter left 19 Wing Comox about 12:45 p.m., arriving at the beach about 1:15 p.m.

The woman was lifted 80 feet in the air to the hovering helicopter.

“When we arrived, we assessed the patient’s vital signs,” said Sgt. Steph Clavette, a search-and-rescue technician.

“The Parks Canada personnel did a great job of splinting and stabilizing [the patient] and it was a simple matter of putting her into the basket for the hoist into the helicopter.”

The woman and her hiking partner were taken to Comox and then transported to hospital by B.C. Ambulance. Her condition was not known on Wednesday night.