Injured walker rescued

A woman out walking had climbed the mountain of La Fortaleza near the town of Chipude in La Gomera where she suffered a broken limb after a fall yesterday lunchtime. As the 51 year old German national could not descend the steep part of the mountain the emergency services rescued her by helicopter and transferred her to the island's hospital in San Sebastian de La Gomera where she received treatment.

Dramatic Rescue Again Today

Late this morning, just hours after posting the previous article with photos of Sunday's rescue operation (see Another Rescue Operation), I witnessed dramatic scenes (photo slideshow below). This time the action was on a steep mountain called La Merica. The path up to the summit passes close to my house and thousands walk up there safely every year. Some people foolishly forget to bring a sunhat and water and it happened only a few weeks ago that a tourist had to be rescued suffering from dehydration and sunstroke.

 The El Hierro emergency helicopter arrived just after 11a.m. this morning and having located the victim near the summit, set down a crew member with the help of the winch. The rescuer then radioed for assistance and another man (possibly the doctor) was let down,followed later by a stretcher. The injured was then winched up to the helicopter and subsequently the doctor (?) was seen going up. The first rescuer then walked to a ledge and in a spectacular show of skill the helicopter pilot maneuvered the craft extremely close to cliff and ledge so that the crewman could simply climb aboard without the use of the winch. 
Slideshow (57 sec.)of dramatic photos with music by Gomera's own 'Dos Guitarras' below:

     ... and the number is: 112 - for emergency services (English spoken!)