Trending Topics

Rescuers use helicopter to save hiker stranded on ledge

It became unsafe for them to climb, and fog deterred an earlier police helicopter; a second hiker fell and suffered non-life-threatening injuries

The Associated Press

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — Rescue crews have rescued a hiker stranded on a ledge near Margarette Falls in East Tennessee.

WATE-TV reports that the man was picked up by a helicopter and brought to safety Friday afternoon in the area about 80 miles east of Knoxville.

Officials say the climber dressed in shorts and a T-shirt had been trapped on the 25-square-foot ledge since the day before, but that he had been able to build a fire during the night.

Rescue crews had been unable to reach the hiker overnight, and fog had thwarted earlier efforts to reach him by helicopter.

Greene County emergency management director Bill Brown says the man appeared unhurt, but was taken to a hospital as a precaution.

A second hiker fell from the ledge Thursday and was treated for injuries.