'Insanely lucky' teen suffers minor injuries after fall down 400-foot canyon in Washington state | US News

The 19-year-old fell to the river at the bottom of the canyon but escaped almost unscathed in a place where a handful of people die each year.

An “incredibly lucky” teenager suffered only minor injuries after falling about 400 feet into a canyon, U.S. officials said.

The unidentified man, 19, allegedly slipped Saturday while walking under the High Steel Bridge in Washington state, one of the tallest railroad bridges in the United States, the sheriff's office said of Mason County.

Sheriff's deputies and firefighters staged a two-hour rescue mission using a rope and harness to scale the bridge and save the man who had fallen into the river below, the office said.

Incredibly, he only suffered scratches to both arms and was taken to a nearby hospital for assessment.

West Mason Fire Chief Matthew Welander told Seattle-based KING 5, an affiliate of NBC News, Sky's U.S. partner, that the crew “attached him to a harness” and had brought back to the summit.

“He was walking along a stream that a lot of people use that has kind of become a trail” and ended up near the river below, he said, adding that the man had been “incredibly lucky”.

Sheriff's Patrol Corporal Tim Ripp, who assisted in his rescue, said: “We've been telling people to stay off these trails because they're dangerous, but either people didn't see the signs warning, or they do not heed it. »

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Corporal Ripp said five to seven people fell from the bridge each year and the majority died, despite warning signs, including one describing how steep, slippery and dangerous the bridge was.

Lack of respect for nature and lack of care are part of the problem as people continue to fall from the bridge, authorities said.