Flares used in gorge hiker rescue

03/01/2020

Police rescued an injured hiker in Newfoundland-Labrador, Canada, with the help of flares to light the area at night.

A woman was crossing a gorge bridge when she slipped down a 12-foot embankment into the icy Corner Brook Stream, CBC reported.

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Sgt. Bob Edwards said she called police at 1:24 a.m. to say she was stranded in the stream.

The rescuers had to walk two-kilometre to find her, as the trail is not accessible by motor vehicles.

“Our officers had to enter the stream up to their waist to get her out. We were able to get her back out of the water, up the embankment and to the bridge.”

The Corner Brook Fire Department and paramedics later arrived with blankets and extra winter jackets to warm the woman up, before taking her to hospital for observation.

Mr Edwards said there was fresh snow on the ground and responders figured out the direction the woman went by following her footprints.

“The area where it was, even for our officers to get down the embankment, it was pretty steep and it was very dark. We brought some flares in to light up the actual bridge area while we were actually trying to get her out of the stream area, and then once we got her out of the stream a number of our officers had to more or less tether other officers to get them back up with the lady.”

The image of Corner Brook Stream is credited to Sgt. Bob Edwards on Twitter