A 42 year old woman suffered an apparent broken ankle while hiking with family and a friend on nature trail Sunday afternoon at Edgar Evins State Park.
Charlie Parker, DeKalb County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator, says the woman was with her two teenage children and a friend when she apparently slipped on some rocks and twisted her ankle while hiking on the John C. Clayborn trail.
Parker says the woman used a cell phone to call 911, but she was so far out in the woods, about two to three miles, it was difficult to get her out. Emergency workers kept in contact with her by cell phone and used GPS coordinates to pinpoint her exact location.
Parker says the woman, who could not walk, was placed in a basket and taken down to the lake, where TWRA officers transferred her by boat to a nearby boat ramp. From there, she was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Cookeville.
Among those participating in the three hour rescue operation, in addition to Parker, were Park Rangers and maintenance employees at Edgar Evins State Park, DeKalb EMS, members of the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department Rescue Team, DeKalb County Rescue Squad, DeKalb County Volunteer Firefighters, TWRA Officers, DeKalb County deputies, and the Putnam County Rescue Squad.
Meanwhile, a 17 year old Nashville youth was seriously injured late Saturday night after he fell some 40 to 45 feet into a gorge at New Frontiers on the Old Snow Hill Road.
Sheriff Patrick Ray says he and other officers responded to the 911 call along with DeKalb EMS.
The boy was removed from the gorge and taken by ambulance to Lebanon where he was airlifted to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville.
The boy, apparently visiting New Frontiers on a retreat, suffered a serious head injury.
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