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Coast Guard rescues injured girl from Olympic National Park

Published 7:00 pm Monday, July 3, 2017

Coast Guard photo courtesy of Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles Officer 2nd Class Wes Shinn, an aviation maintenance technician from Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles, sits in the cabin of an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter after the air crew landed to drop a rescuer off in the Olympic National Park Saturday. The crew were responding to a medevac request for an injured female hiker near Dosewallips.

Coast Guard photo courtesy of Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles

Officer 2nd Class Wes Shinn, an aviation maintenance technician from Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles, sits in the cabin of an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter after the air crew landed to drop a rescuer off in the Olympic National Park Saturday. The crew were responding to a medevac request for an injured female hiker near Dosewallips.

A Coast Guard aircrew airlifted an injured 17-year-old after she fell around 100 feet while hiking near the Staircase area of the Home Sweet Home trail south of Dosewallips, in the Olympic National Park Saturday.

The MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles hoisted the hiker and took her to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles.

Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound received the medevac request from Olympic National Park rangers. The rangers reached out to coordinators with the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center, the agency responsible for coordinating on-land federal search and rescue activities, but the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island search and rescue aircrew was already responding to a different fallen hiker.

Once on scene, the Dolphin helicopter crew landed, a crew member got out and climbed to the hiker. The helicopter crew then lifted back off and lowered the litter to the crew member on the ground, who stayed with the hiker while the crew refueled.

The hiker reported having numbness on her right side and pain in her neck.

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