A 70-year-old man from Florida spent more than 10 hours trapped in a coastal ravine before rescuers from Yachats and Lincoln County were able to lift him to safety Sunday.
Mark W. Hicks was taken to Lower Umpqua Hospital in Reedsport on Sunday morning for treatment of injuries that were believed not life threatening.
Hicks and his wife were staying at the Oregon House nine miles south of Yachats when he told her about 10:30 p.m. that he was going for a late-night walk on the beach, according to the Yachats Rural Fire Protection District and the Lane County Sheriff’s Office. His wife or family members called 9-1-1 at 6:41 a.m. Sunday when she realized he had not returned.
Yachats Fire paramedics arrived at 7:07 a.m. and located him 20 minutes later 10 feet down a narrow ravine. He was conscious but unable to climb out, according to Yachats Fire. The paramedics called for the Lincoln County technical rescue team, comprised of first-responders from Waldport, Newport, Lincoln City and Toledo to help get Hicks out of the narrow crevasse.
The rope team set up a line across the ravine, lowered a basket to rescuers below and then lifted him out. An ambulance from Siuslaw Fire/Western Lane Ambulance took Hicks to Reedsport for treatment at 9:47 a.m.
