ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, June 18, 1996 TAG: 9606180071
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: NEWPORT
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
A 16-year-old boy was peering over the edge of Wind Rock, an outcropping on the Appalachian Trail near the Mountain Lake resort, when he fell about 40 feet Monday onto rocks and punctured his abdomen.
The accident happened about 10:30 a.m. and rescuers were called by 10:53 when members of an ornithology class raced 3/10 of a mile back to their van and drove another five miles to a biological station.
The teen-ager, Daniel White, was released Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital after he was flown there by the Lifeguard 10 rescue helicopter, a nursing supervisor said.
White was on a week-long hiking trip with campers from Camp Bethel, Fincastle. Andy Wells, program director for the camp, said White is an experienced backpacker.
"He had been on this trip before and was a junior counselor," Wells said.
Wells said White's father is one of the leaders for the trip whose hikers continued with their camping expedition after finding out White would be all right.
Wayne Angleberger, business manager for the Mountain Lake Biological Station of the University of Virginia, said he made the 911 call.
Angleberger said he was not at Wind Rock when the hiker fell, but he drove a paramedic and emergency medical technician, who happened to be taking a class at the station, to the site.
Giles County and Newport volunteer rescue crews responded, along with the Giles County Ambulance service.
Capt. Steve Davis, of the Giles County Volunteer Rescue Squad, said the boy had abdominal injuries and was pretty "shocky" when rescuers hauled him up the cliff face in a stretcher pulled by ropes.
"We put four people on either side of the stretcher and carried him out to the helicopter," Davis said.
The helicopter landed in a small parking area less than a half mile from Wind Rock at the Appalachian Trail and Virginia 613, Angleberger said
Davis said the teen-ager was the third person to fall from Wind Rock in the past five years.
LENGTH: Short : 46 linesby CNB