Nanaimo Fire Rescue, B.C. Ambulance Service, Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue from Ladysmith and a Canadian Coast Guard hovercraft took part in retrieving an injured woman from Dodd Narrows Wednesday.
According to the Canadian Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, a woman was injured after slipping off of a rock bluff while hiking the Cable Bay Trail near Dodd Narrows at around 10 a.m.
“A person took a fall, so we tasked ourselves in and volunteers from Ladysmith who helped B.C. Ambulance and the fire department too,” said Darren Morley, coast guard officer. “We just got called to take the lady because she ended up being on the beach.”
Greg Norman, Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant chief of operations, said Nanaimo Fire Rescue was called in and responded with a technical rescue team in case a rope rescue was required to retrieve the patient.
“By the time we got down there [B.C. Ambulance Service] had also contacted search and rescue Ladysmith and the hovercraft, so the retrieval was done from the water,” Norman said.
He said the patient was taken to an ambulance team at the Cedar boat ramp on Nelson Road in Cedar By-the-Sea, which took her to Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.
“She’s conscious and I’m not sure of the nature of the injuries, but they did take her to NRGH,” Norman said. “She was out hiking with some friends.”