(Photo: Utah County Sheriff's Office)
PROVO —Within 30 minutes three people fell in the same area of Provo Canyon two of which suffered “serious-to-critical injuries.
Emergency crews first responded to a 43-year-old woman visiting from Hawaii who had twisted and broke her leg at the base of a popular waterfall shortly before noon according to Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon.
While crews were helping her a 19-year-old student and a 9-year-old from Hawaii (not related to the 43-year-old woman) both fell at the same waterfall from a height of nearly 40 feet.
“It’s not terribly uncommon to have calls come in close in proximity to each other but to have three separate incidents happen at the same location within half-an-hour is a little unusual,” Cannon said.
The boy was taken by helicopter to a nearby hospital and was said to have breathing problems. the 19-year-old student was taken to a hospital by ambulance with injuries to her hip and arm.
Both were in “serious-critical” condition when they were transported to the hospital.
The cause of the falls remains unknown at this time.
Three different emergency crews responded when the three people fell The North Fork Fire Department and Utah County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team responded to the first call then the Provo Fire Department and LifeFlight crews assisted with the other two falls.
Cannon said, “It was in the same location, so the resources were right there and they were able to spread themselves out a little bit until other resources got there to help.”
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