4 days ago
Hunter crushed by horse in northeastern B.C. rescued in nightime parachute drop
Crews performed the first operational night jump from one of Canada's newest search-and-rescue planes this week, after a hunter was crushed by their horse in a remote part of northeastern British Columbia.
The call for help came around 10 p.m. on Tuesday, when the horseback rider was injured about 185 km east of Fort Nelson.
Rugged terrain and darkness meant that no local ground or air crew could make it to the site.
The RCMP called in help from the Royal Canadian Air Force, which deployed a new CC-295 Kingfisher and a CH-149 Cormorant helicopter from 19 Wing Comox.
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The search and rescue team says it then completed a dark jump from the plane without flares, in order to prevent a potential wildfire, rendering the operation even more complex.
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'We had to take our time a little bit because the lightning conditions were low to see if we were able to dispatch some jumpers and, in the end, after letting go of some of our night time drift markers and some other tools we use we decided it was safe for the SAR techs to go out to drop down to the area,' CC-295 pilot Dan Faux explained.
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The search and rescue technicians parachuted into the area, then hiked to the injured rider where they provided urgent medical support and coordinated a helicopter extraction.
'We found a meadow about one kilometre away from the patients, we got down and got all our gear and had to hike down a valley up a river to where the patient was,' said Master Cpl. Max Honeyman.
'About two hours later, the Cormorant showed up …. We were able to provide really good care to the patient.'
According to the crew the mission took about 16 hours in total.
The RCAF took delivery of the Kingfishers in 2020 after years-long procurement effort to replace its 50-year-old fleet of DHC-Buffalo and CC-130H Hercules planes.
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