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Senior airlifted to hospital after falling off cliff at Nanaimo’s Pipers Lagoon

Man fell 18 metres onto rocks, firefighters conducted rope rescue
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A man was airlifted to hospital with head injuries after falling from a cliff at Pipers Lagoon Park in Nanaimo on Monday, April 11. (News Bulletin file photo)

A senior was airlifted to hospital after falling off a cliff at Nanaimo’s Pipers Lagoon Park last night.

Nanaimo Fire Rescue and B.C. Ambulance crews were called to the park at about 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 11, after a man in his 60s fell from atop an 18-metre cliff onto rocks at the north end of the park.

Firefighters were called to conduct a rope rescue operation to lift the victim from the bottom of the cliff.

“After recon-ing where the patient was, we brought in all resources to create a rope rescue team, due to the terrain,” said Troy Libbus, Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant chief. “We had all resources and hands on deck to get the patient out. B.C. Ambulance had already called for a helicopter and it was on standby on the grass at [the] park.”

Libbus said the victim suffered head injuries from the fall and was unconscious when emergency crews arrived, but was in and out of consciousness as he was delivered to an ambulance, which transferred him to the helicopter.

“The rope rescue team brought him up and we packaged him and took him up in a Stokes basket and took him out to the ambulance … to get him on the helicopter and shipped away,” Libbus said.

Libbus did not know which hospital the patient was flown to and did not have updated information about the man’s condition. The entire rescue operation was completed within about one hour.

READ ALSO: Rope rescue required after man falls into Nanaimo River

READ ALSO: Firefighters rescue man after fall



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Chris Bush

About the Author: Chris Bush

As a photographer/reporter with the Nanaimo News Bulletin since 1998.
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