Hiker hears cry for help and finds man who fell from Arizona mountain, rescuers say
A hiker was in “extremely critical condition” after falling up to 70 feet from the top of an Arizona mountain, officials said.
The hiker cried out for help after the fall, and others hiking Lookout Mountain on Monday, Nov. 18, rushed to help him, reports say.
“My dog and I were hiking, and something got my dog’s attention,” the person who first noticed the fallen hiker told Arizona’s Family News. “When I got to the peak, I noticed a pair of sunglasses, a water bottle, a hat and no one was (there).”
That’s when he said he “heard a voice in distress” and spotted the hiker moving his arm, the station reported. He says he called out to another group of hikers below to help until he could reach them.
“Where he had fallen from had to have been like … 50 (feet), like a 50-(foot) drop like off of a sheer cliff,” he told the station. “And then he tumbled significantly on a really, really, really like rocky, edgy rock garden. He wasn’t in very good shape when we got to him.”
Technical rescue teams from Phoenix and Scottsdale responded just before 4 p.m., the Phoenix Fire Department said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The injured hiker was “unconscious and not breathing” when rescuers arrived, Fox 10 Phoenix reported.
“This is not our every day mountain rescue,” Phoenix Fire Captain Todd Keller told 12 News.
A rescue helicopter hoisted the hiker off the mountain and he was transported to a hospital in “extremely critical condition,” the Phoenix Fire Department said.
Lookout Mountain is in northwestern Phoenix.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 7:25 AM with the headline "Hiker hears cry for help and finds man who fell from Arizona mountain, rescuers say."
