File picture: Henk Kruger/Independent Newspapers
A 50-year-old hiker was airlifted to safety by the Wilderness Search And Rescue (WSAR) after falling 15 metres on Table Mountain in Cape Town.
WSAR said the hiker and her family were walking between India Venster and Platteklip Gorge when she stepped awkwardly and tumbled from the trail on Monday afternoon.
“Her family immediately called the emergency number...a small rescue team on board the Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness EMS rescue helicopter were flown to scene and hoisted down to a point close to the injured hiker.
“She was treated by a paramedic and placed into a rescue stretcher, before being hoisted from the mountain and flown to a nearby landing zone. She was carried to a waiting ambulance and driven to hospital,“ read the statement.
In another similar incident last month, IOL reported that a 41-year-old hiker died after falling 40 metres from a section of trail at the Jonkershoek Nature Reserve near Stellenbosch.
WSAR said the man and his partner had hiked up to the Tweede Waterval (Second Waterfall) earlier in the day and were making their way back down the path to their car when he suddenly slipped off the trail and fell.
“Passing hikers raced down the trail to raise the alarm, calling the emergency number (021 937 0300) as soon as they had a signal.
“Wilderness Search and Rescue (WSAR) teams from Cape Town and Stellenbosch, accompanied by Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness EMS medics, CapeNature Rangers, and Stellenbosch Fire and Rescue personnel, were driven into the reserve and quickly hiked up to locate the fallen hiker.
“Once on scene, a small team abseiled down the cliff to locate the patient. Sadly, they found that the hiker was deceased,” WSAR said.
brenda.masilela@iol.co.za
IOL News