Survivor of Deadly 400-Foot Fall Recalls His Friends Going 'Down' in 911 Call, Says He Could 'Hardly Breathe' After
A man who survived a 400-foot fall in a climbing accident that killed three of his friends traveled to a payphone 40 miles away to call 911
"The whole team went down," Anton Tselykh told the 911 dispatcher, according to reports
The fall occurred in Washington's North Cascades National Park on Saturday, May 10A man who survived a 400-foot fall in a climbing accident that killed three others told a 911 dispatcher that he could "hardly breathe' after he drove more than 40 miles to call for help, according to reports.
The tragic fall occurred in Washington's North Cascades National Park on Saturday, May 10 when four people attempted a summit of Early Winter North Spire, ABC News Radio affiliate KOMO News reported.
In a Facebook update posted on May 13, the Okanogan County Sheriff's Office identified the three deceased victims as Vishnu Irigireddy, 48, of Renton; Tim Nguyen, 63, of Renton; and Oleksander Martynenko, 36, of Bellevue. The surviving victim is Anton Tselykh, 38, of Seattle.
The lone survivor was able to confirm details of the accident that county officials had suspected.
'The group had encountered bad weather and had decided to descend," Cristine Woodworth, an Okanogan County Search and Rescue coordinator, told KOMO News. "And they were repelling when they had some sort of anchor failure.'
The four climbers were on the same piton, an anchor in the rock used by climbers, that had been left behind by previous mountaineers, the outlet reported.
As the sun was setting and bad weather loomed, the group decided to return to the base of the summit. They fell at around 5:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, Tselykh told the official, according to KOMO News.
After Tselykh fell, he lost consciousness for hours and then hiked three-quarters of a mile to his vehicle. He called for help from a payphone in Newhalem, more than 40 miles away.
'The whole team went down,' Tselykh said in the 911 call, according to the Associated Press. 'My face is very well beaten, hands and my ribs, I can hardly breathe.'
According to radio logs reviewed by the AP, first responders saw that Tselykh had bruises on his head and fluid was coming out of his ears.
Even though Tselykh had brain trauma and concerning internal injuries, he told the dispatcher that he didn't need medical assistance. He was told to wait for authorities and responders to arrive. He was later taken to the hospital, according to the AP.
Susan Gregg, a spokesperson for UW Medicine, tells PEOPLE that Tselykh "is in satisfactory condition (not in ICU) at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle."
She adds, "He has decided to focus on his recovery right now so is not doing media interviews at this time."
The sheriff's office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for further comment.
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Tselykh was only able to find two of his friends' bodies in the dark, he told the 911 dispatcher. 'I was lucky to survive,' he said during the call, per the AP.
The victims were were removed from the mountains by helicopter because of the difficult terrain.
Woodworth said that some of the climbers seemed pretty experienced. However, it's not known if a backup anchor was used during the group's descent. Some of the friends had climbed together before, she told the AP.
The survivor was 'obviously very much affected by this,' Woodworth added.
Read the original article on People
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