Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 13, 1995 TAG: 9502130065
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BRISTOL LENGTH: Short
The boy survived his plunge Saturday when ice covering the water broke his fall when he was just feet from the quarry's floor. Rescue workers said 17-year-old Dennis Stranburg of Bristol broke a thumb, a heel and hip and had many bruises.
A spokeswoman for Bristol Regional Medical Center in Tennessee said Sunday that Stranburg was in fair condition.
Jordan Branson, 19, saw Stranburg fall.
``We were looking for a good place to climb, and he looked over the edge and fell,'' Branson said. ``I was 10 or 15 feet away - there was nothing I could do.''
Stranburg made his way through the icy water to a ledge. He was met by three members of the Bristol Life Saving Crew, who used a steep, rocky path to reach the ledge.
As they worked to stabilize the teen-ager, other crew members, Bristol firefighters and police lowered a rescue basket by rope to the bottom of the cliff. Although the first crew members were able to climb along ledges to reach the victim, using that path to carry him back out would have been virtually impossible, crew member Keith Blair said.
Rescuers secured a pulley system of ropes to raise Stranburg back to the top of the cliff. With three men perched at the cliff's edge to guide the ropes, the tedious process of lifting Stranburg began.
Two crew members strapped on rock-climbing harnesses and clambered over the side of the cliff. They helped free the basket from ledges and guided it the rest of the way to the top.
by CNB