Emergency responders rescued a 16-year-old girl Friday night (10-30-2015), after she badly injured her leg while hiking on Kruzof Island, about 10 miles northwest of Sitka.
Search Captain Lance Ewers says Sitka Mountain Rescue, police officers, and forest service personnel used two boats for the response, in case one could not reach the island. The teen was stable but immobile and about half a mile from the shore near Brent’s Beach Cabin.
“When the first medical team got on scene and started providing comfort and care they realized real quickly they were going to need a lot more help with the litter wheel to get the patient back to the boat so that the boat could get them to the hospital,” Ewers said.
The extra boat turned out to be a good idea, Ewers says. Responders were able to ferry additional people from one of the boats to the beach to help with the gurney.
Ewers says the teen was on the island as part of Raven’s Way, a residential substance abuse treatment program, and had fallen into a ditch. The adults who were supervising the teen did the right thing by getting assistance, he says.
“Sometimes you hurt yourself and in Alaska if you hurt yourself and you’re not on the road system you got to call for help and these people did exactly that they called for help and we were able to help them,” Ewers said.
The girl was transported to Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital for treatment.
