13-Year-Old Boy Survives After Nearly 100-Feet Grand Canyon Fall
A 13-year-old boy from North Dakota has survived after slipping and falling nearly 100 feet at the Grand Canyon’s north rim during a family trip.
The emergency crews took two hours to pull Wyatt Kauffman to safety on Tuesday after falling off a ledge at the popular tourist site’s North Rim, BBC reported.
The boy was airlifted to hospital with nine broken bones, vertebrae, a ruptured spleen, a collapsed lung, a concussion, a broken hand and a dislocated finger.
“I was up on the ledge and was moving out of the way so other people could take a picture,” Wyatt told Phoenix television station KPNX. “I squatted down and was holding onto a rock. I only had one hand on it.”
He added, “It wasn’t that good of a grip. It was kind of pushing me back. I lost my grip and started to fall back.”
He told the local television station that he had been squatting down and holding onto a rock with one hand when he lost his grip and started to fall back.
“After the fall, I don’t remember anything after that,” he said.
“I just remember somewhat waking up and being in the back of an ambulance and a helicopter and getting on a plane and getting here.”
The boy was pulled to safety by a team from the Grand Canyon National Park.
“We’re extremely grateful for the work of everyone,” said Wyatt’s father, Brian Kauffman, who was home in North Dakota at the time of the accident.
“We’re just lucky we’re bringing our kid home in a car in the front seat instead of in a box.”