Video shows rescue of teen after rock falls on him in Spanish Fork Canyon

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A teenager was rescued from Spanish Fork Canyon by helicopter after a rock fell on him, breaking his leg, while he was hiking, according to the Utah County Sheriff's Office.

The search and rescue operation took place Friday evening in the Red Ledges at Diamond Fork.

The sheriff's office shared video Saturday of the operation, which began at 7:22 p.m. on June 14 when multiple agencies responded to a call of an injured hiker.

UCSO Search and Rescue, Spanish Fork Fire & EMS and the Utah Department of Public Safety responded to the canyon to rescue the 16-year-old Provo man whose femur was broken by the fall of a rock. The teen was unable to exit the canyon due to his injury, requiring a 3-hour rescue using the DPS helicopter.

The boy was successfully rescued Friday evening and he was hoisted into a waiting ambulance which transported him to hospital for surgery.

Hospital imaging shared by UCSO showed the severity of the teen's femur fracture.

The boy's condition, including whether he had previously undergone surgery, was not revealed Saturday.

Utah search and rescue teams worked seemingly nonstop as summer approached, rescuing stranded hikers sometimes for hours, sometimes for days, and some who called for help but managed to escape search and rescue teams because they did not stay inside. a square.

And Saturday's incident wasn't even the first this year involving a hiker injured by a falling rock.

Utah SAR officials advised hikers to do their research before venturing onto the state's trails and to bring supplies in case of loss or injury, including food and 'water.

“Energy bars, or something like that,” Utah County Search and Rescue incident manager Steve Gorrell told 2News in an April interview. “Calories can help you, because calories will also help you stay warm at night. Next, have plenty of water or a water filter.

RELATED REPORTS: Utah Search and Rescue

However, the majority of rescue efforts this season have taken place in and around the state's bodies of water, where Utahns and visitors seeking to beat the heat have been swept away by spring runoff.

Some cases resulted in successful rescues. Unfortunately, some did not.

Over the weekend before the Spanish Fork Canyon rescue, two people died in separate Utah canyons. In Alpine's Deer Creek Canyon, a 19-year-old went missing and was found dead the next day.

The same day his body was discovered, a 12-year-old boy visiting Provo Canyon fell into the Provo River. He was pulled from the water four miles downstream and was later pronounced dead at hospital.

Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the teen as a girl.