Another injured hiker airlifted from Vancouver Island's West Coast Trail
Just weeks after a U.S. man suffered a life-changing injury on B.C.'s West Coast Trail, search and rescue teams were called to another hiking emergency on Monday.
"We were called a little bit after 4 p.m. for a female that had fallen and hurt herself," said Jim Loree, search manager with North Shore Rescue. "She had a dislocated shoulder."
A helicopter was deployed from Vancouver by the provincial Emergency Coordination Centre. With the help of a 200-foot fixed line, the woman and her partner were extracted from the trail.
They were flown to a waiting ambulance in Port Renfrew, B.C., and taken to hospital.
"This is just an unfortunate incident of, you know, somebody who did everything right but fell down and got hurt," said Loree.
This is the second pair of hikers that had to be airlifted from the trail after being injured since the iconic trail opened for the season on May 1.
Two weeks ago, U.S. man Ed Steinkamp slipped on a log three days into his hike, sending a stick through his eye socket and lodging into his brain.
Ed Steinkamp is pictured. (Submitted)"He landed on the stick and it broke off in the fall," said his son, Bret Steinkamp, on Monday.
"The surgeon said, 'You’re lucky to be alive, you have this branch in your brain," the man's brother, Peter Steinkamp, told CTV News.
Ed Steinkamp lost sight in his left eye and remains at Victoria General Hospital while doctors treat him for an infection in his brain.
"Conditions are certainly muddy and slippery which are all things that visitors need to come prepared to experience when they come to the West Coast Trail," said Liam McNeil, visitor safety specialist with the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.
McNeil says on average, only one per cent of hikers need to be airlifted off the trail per year.
"The vast majority of these rescues are completed by Parks Canada visitor safety technicians who extract the injured visitors by marine vessel," said McNeil.
Anyone planning to tackle the six- to eight-day hike, is advised to prepare for some wicked West Coast weather. If you do find yourself with an injury, don’t be afraid to call for help, officials say.
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