District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue members carried out a highly technical rescue Monday after a man fell almost five metres from a cliff into Lynn Creek.
With the help of Lynn Canyon park rangers district crews found the man in his early 20s just below the Twin Falls bridge, just after 6:15 p.m. Though the area is popular with cliff and bridge jumpers, the victim appears to have fallen by accident, said Mike Cairns, assistant fire chief.
"At the time of the incident, he was sitting on the edge of the bank above the river and either lost his balance or the ground gave way and he tumbled down the side of the bank into the river," Cairns said.
The victim was stranded on a rock with leg and arm injuries when rescuers arrived, Cairns said, making it difficult to get him out of the challenging spot. "We put a swift water team into the river and floated the patient to the east bank. He was packed into a basket stretcher with spinal precautions," Cairns said.
From there, firefighters used their high angle rescue team to hoist the man up the cliff, before carrying him out to the Lynn Canyon parking lots where B.C. Ambulance Service paramedics were waiting to take him to Lions Gate Hospital.
