4 years ago
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(CNN)A hiker was seriously injured on Sunday when a large boulder rolled onto him as he descended down a mountain in Washington, according to rescue teams.
The man, who wasn't named by officials, was hiking down the Iron Cap Mountain with a female friend Sunday evening, according to a press release from the Coast Guard. The mountain is located just east of Seattle in the Cascade Range.
The hikers were 6,200 feet up the mountain when a 6-foot-wide by 6-foot-tall boulder rolled onto the man leaving him with serious head and leg injuries, according to the release. The man was struggling to remain conscious after the accident, his friend told officials.
The female hiker, who is a nursing student, applied a tourniquet to the man's leg to control bleeding, according the report. She also climbed to higher ground to find cell service to call 911.
Due to the hiker's elevation, a helicopter crew from the Coast Guard in Oregon deployed to rescue them in coordination with King County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue. The Coast Guard team was able to successfully located and medevac the hikers to safety.
"The male hiker had more serious internal injuries than they thought," Sgt. Ryan Abbott, media relations officer with King County Sheriff's Office, told CNN.
"They are very fortunate the Coast Guard was able to hoist them out and help. If not, rescue teams would have had to climb up and that might have taken a day to get to them."
The injured hiker was flown to Harborview Medical Center and is in stable condition, according to the Coast Guard.
Last year, three hikers were rescued from Iron Cap Mountain after a fourth member of their group suffered a fatal fall, according to police.
"The area is extremely remote with steep, jagged cliffs and loose, unstable rock," Spokane County Sheriff's Office said in a statement last year.
Correction: This story has been updated with the correct location of Iron Cap Mountain. It is east of Seattle.
