Injured hunter rescued by helicopter near Keremeos

PENTICTON – A hunter with a serious cut was rescued by Penticton Search and Rescue team and a B.C. Ambulance helicopter yesterday.

RCMP and B.C. Ambulance were called at about 11 a.m., Oct. 1, about a 39-year-old man had suffered a serious cut while hunting with a group of three others in the Ashnola River Valley south of Keremeos, according to a media release from Penticton Search and Rescue.

B.C. Ambulance dispatched a helicopter, while several Search and Rescue ground teams from Penticton and Keremeos were deployed.

“Within 30 minutes of leaving the Penticton air base the Penticton HETS (Helicopter External Transport System) Team arrived in the area and located the hunting party,” Randy Brown with Penticton Search and Rescue says in a media release.

Brown says as soon as the helicopter landed, one of the ground teams, which had hiked to the area, also arrived.

They provided first aid and carried the injured hunter to the waiting helicopter. The man was airlifted to Kelowna General Hospital.

No word on his current condition.

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