An ugly fall on Mount Albert, in Haute-Gaspésie, required eight hours of efforts by the authorities to manage to rescue the victim due to the isolation of the place and the configuration of the soil.
A distress call was first launched with a satellite phone around 5 p.m. Thursday evening. A 55-year-old lady, hiking with her daughter and stepson, fell violently, when she was very close to the summit, in the heart of the Gaspésie National Park.
Big her head, she suffered from relatively abundant bleeding and had episodes of loss of consciousness, indicates the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).
“It was first the local firefighters who went there, but they realized that it was impossible for them to descend the woman to the stretcher, as the soil was too slippery because of the abundant rain of the last days,” explains Audrey-Ann Bilodeau, spokesperson for the police body.
Called in reinforcement, the police officers also realized that they could not evacuate the victim by the land. The SQ helicopter was therefore called upon to recover the fifties from the great Montreal region.
Freezing
Mercury quickly dropped to the top of the mountain, while the hours passed. At nightfall, the temperature bordered on the freezing point, underlines Ms. Bilodeau.
“Fortunately, they still had access to a shelter. SO [les secours] were still able to give first aid and reheat the victim, ”she said.
The injured woman was finally helicoptered to the airport of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts around 1 a.m., before being renewed in the hospital center. The police body was warned informed of the night by nursing staff that the fifties were out of danger.
In total, nearly ten firefighters, police and rescuers got their hands dirty in this case.
The Sûreté du Québec takes advantage of this incident which could have ended badly to remind hikers to be cautious in the mountains, to be adequately equipped and to have enough provisions to deal with any eventuality.