Nurses trek fresh blood into woods to rescue 18-year-old hiker who fell from NC mountain

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — Flight nurses had to trek fresh blood into the woods after a hiker fell off of a mountain in North Carolina Sunday evening, according to Burke County Search and Rescue.

Channel 9′s Dave Faherty learned Monday the hiker is a 18-year-old from the Durham area and fell from 40-feet at the top of Hawksbill Mountain.

Faherty climbed more than 4,000-feet in elevation to the summit of the mountain east of the Linville Gorge in the Pisgah National Forest.

At the same locations the day prior, rescue workers said they received reports of a hiker who had fallen approximately 45 feet around 7 p.m. Officials said the hiker was not rock climbing at the time, but got too close to the edge and fell.

After making contact with the hiker, EMS determined that due to the nature of their injuries, the hiker would need whole blood before being moved from the area.

While the hiker was being stabilized by EMS, Burke Rescue said ropes were used to set up a horizontal raise to bring the hiker back to the top of Hawksbill. However, high winds on the top of the mountain made a helicopter extraction too dangerous and it was decided the hiker would have to be carried off the mountain.

Rescue workers said while their crews were working to extract the hiker from the woods, the helicopter was able to land, and EMS was able to transport their crew via ambulance to the Hawksbill parking area.

“In that area, the mountain is rugged,” Captain Burke Browning with Burke Emergency Services said. “The place she fell in was quite rugged so they did have to do quite a bit of work to get her out.”

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Nurses trek fresh blood into woods to rescue hiker who fell from NC mountain

The flight nurses then hiked fresh whole blood into the woods, where they met rescue crews on the trail and a successful blood transfusion was administered, according to Burke Rescue.

The hiker and responding crews all made it safely out of the woods around 1 a.m. The hiker was then transported to a nearby trauma center.

Anna Perdue, a hiker on the trail on Monday, said she doesn’t take chances with any of the area’s dangerous drops.

“You always have to be kind of aware of where the edge is,” she said. “I don’t like getting too close to the edge, because vertigo can get you.”

Burke County Search and Rescue said they believe this was the first whole blood delivery in the Linville Gorge. They are also working with the local hospital in Morganton to get more equipment for related recuses.

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Mountain rescue: Hiker with impaled foot rescued from North Carolina mountain (NCD)

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