Fading light, Mount Paul’s dangerous terrain create difficult rescue Sunday night

KAMLOOPS — There was a dramatic rescue operation over Kamloops Sunday (Nov. 13) night. A para-glider, injured high above the Sun Rivers community, began to flash signals for help around 4:00 p.m.

The call came into Kamloops Search and Rescue (KSAR) shortly after 4:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

At the time it was believed that a hiker had fallen off a cliff and was potentially in critical condition. KSAR’s Alan Hobler confirmed that steep and difficult terrain complicated the rescue.

Sunday’s rescue (image credit – CAF)

“It was a para-gilder, that information we didn’t discover until later. The individual was significantly injured and there was a risk that he was in critical condition,” said Hobler. “He was at a base of a cliff and very difficult to access.”

That led to assistance being rendered from 19-Wing at CFB Comox who arrived to conduct the air rescue.

“Five nautical miles east of Kamloops Airport, Comox was tasked to assist with a search and rescue after ground search and rescue requested a helo-evacuation. Basically a person was para-gliding and crashed into a cliff face,” confirmed Cpt. Chelsea Dubeau, Public Affair Officer with the Joint Rescue Command Centre in Victoria.

Sunday’s rescue (image credit – CAF)

The stranded para-glider was finally rescued after 1:00 a.m. Monday morning, transported to Kamloops Airport and then to Royal Inland Hospital via ambulance.

“It was much longer than we thought. Initially we figured it would just be an hour or two but where the subject was it was very difficult to access. The helicopter winches the patient directly up and he was under a tree and there wasn’t a good location to lift him up,” added Hobler.

The current condition of the man was not available.

Meantime, RCMP are confirming one person was arrested in relation to the rescue operation.

In an email, RCMP say a 35-year-old man was arrested at the scene and released without charge pending further investigation.

RCMP say the man is alleged to have interfered with the search and rescue team by climbing to the rescue location on Mount Paul, then becoming “belligerent and abusive to rescue personnel.”