Calif. Hikers were rescued after seven hours trapped under the rocks

A man hiking in the Inyo Mountains was airlifted by helicopter to a Fresno hospital Wednesday morning after becoming trapped under a thousands-pound rock for seven hours, requiring a difficult rescue in dark and cold conditions, authorities said.

Inyo County Search and Rescue was called to comb the area for the man Tuesday afternoon and found him under Santa Rita Flat near Independence, where latest information from the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office. The California Highway Patrol’s Central Division Air Operations helicopter H40 flew two rescuers to the man’s location while seven other officers followed behind in vehicles on the way down; meanwhile, police coordinators oversaw the response from a search and rescue station about 50 miles away in Bishop.

“The SAR team arrived at the hiker’s location after dark, and found the hiker in great pain with his left leg stuck under a large rock on a steep hill. ,” the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. “Team members estimated the weight of the stone to be between 6,000 and 10,000 pounds.”

The team had limited resources, but they decided that by using a rope and winch, they could move the rock to free the hiker and assess his condition.

“Due to the severity of the hiker’s injuries and the difficult terrain, it was decided to evacuate the hiker in the dark using a helicopter from the US Naval Air Station Lemoore,” said a the information.

Since there were no suitable landing zones nearby, a US Navy medic flew from the helicopter to the injured hiker’s location. Both the hiker and the doctor were then lifted into a helicopter and flown to Fresno for treatment sometime after midnight. The rescue team returned to their vehicles and returned to the Bishop, not arriving at 4 o’clock in the morning.

The extent of the man’s injuries and his current condition are still unknown. A spokesperson for the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office was not immediately available to provide additional information to SFGATE.

Of the Mount Inyo is a 198,360 acre mountain desert between Owens Valley and Death Valley National Park.