A female Lion’s Head hiker has ER24 paramedics and a SA National Parks (SANParks) ranger to thank for surviving a nightmare 10-metre drop.
Woman injured after falling from height while hiking Lion’s Head https://t.co/lKvfb6kEXi #ArriveAlive #Hiking @ER24EMS pic.twitter.com/7CvWZanqn3
— Arrive Alive (@_ArriveAlive) December 16, 2021
Lion’s Head hiker survives nightmare drop
In a statement, Wilderness Search and Rescue spokesperson Johann Marais confirmed the incident took place at the first ladder on Lion’s Head on Wednesday evening.
At this time, it is unclear how the incident occurred but distress calls were heard in the area at approximately 20:00.
Reacting quickly in a race against time, paramedics, together with Metro police, Wilderness Search and Rescue and SANParks officials located the 33-year-old woman who still showed vitals after dropping about 10 metres.
According to Marais, first responders reached the woman at around 20:48 and miraculously, she was still alive.
“They immediately attended to her with a view to stabilising her. It took them more than an hour to stabilise the patient and together with two more teams, to place her in a stretcher before they commenced carrying her down the mountain,” Marais noted.
The on-site treatment of the patient bought medics enough time to initiate the next phase of the rescue operation, which was to successfully rope the woman, who was on a stretcher, down to the road, where an emergency vehicle was ready to rush to a nearby hospital.
The entire ordeal lasted three hours and, finally, at around 23:00, the woman was successfully transported to Netcare Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital, where she was been recovering from moderate-to-serious injuries.