A man and his 1-year-old child were rescued after sustaining a nearly 80-foot fall in a remote location in northwestern Arizona near the Utah and Nevada borders, according to the Beaver Dam/Littlefield Fire Department.
At around 4 p.m. Sept. 26, the Fire Department was dispatched to Cedar Pocket outside Littlefield, Arizona, after receiving a report that the family was involved in a rappelling accident, spokesperson Capt. Larry Lydon said.
The Washington County Sheriff's Office, Washington County Sheriff's Search and Rescue team and the Mohave County Sheriff's Office arrived shortly afterward to assist in the rescue, according to the fire department's Facebook post.
As a Mercy Air Helicopter surveyed the area to find a place to land, rescue teams
went along the trailhead and made contact with the mother of the 1-year-old child. The child was harnessed to the father as they were rappelling down a cliff face when, all of a sudden, the rope became undone, Lydon said.
The mother, who witnessed the malfunction, immediately grabbed the ropes to try to stop the fall but was injured in the process, according to Lydon.
Luckily, the mother was able to slow the fall as much as possible before the father and child landed on the ground, Lydon said. The father sustained a major back injury and was in critical condition when responders arrived, but the child only suffered minor injuries in the accident, he said.
The rope team from Washington County Search and Rescue began setting up a rappelling system with a Stokes basket to save him. Evacuating the man by helicopter was not an option due to the remote location, according to Lydon.
"The whole process took about five to six hours," Lydon said, "But we had our advanced EMT Sarah Miller down there taking care of him before we were able to hoist him back up."
The Fire Department took the father to the hospital for further medical treatment while the mother and child went to the hospital on their own, according to Lydon.
The Fire Department reminded people to "please use extreme caution when recreating in remote areas, and always consider the risks associated with rappelling and other outdoor activities."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Father critically hurt after 80-foot fall with child in remote Arizona
