An injured hiker who fell off a cliff in El Paso, Texas, was rescued by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations last Saturday. A video of the rescue operation shows a helicopter crew hoisting the injured hiker 180 feet into the air.
In a Tuesday press release, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that Air and Marine Operations rescued a hiker located near Mammoth Cave in the Franklin Mountains on Saturday afternoon.
Customs and Border Protection explained that an Air and Marine Operations El Paso Air Branch UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and helicopter crew provided assistance to the El Paso County Combined Search and Rescue. The press release noted that the UH-50 Black Hawk helicopter crew hoisted the injured hiker and six COMSAR rescue crew members 180 feet during the rescue after the hiker fell off a cliff.
“The COMSAR team assessed the injured hiker on the ground and requested he be transported to the trauma hospital,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “The teams landed and transferred the patient to medical personnel for further intensive care due to the severity of his injuries.”
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Customs and Border Protection confirmed in Tuesday’s press release that the injured hiker was directly transported by the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter to a local hospital for additional medical treatment.
“This is our fourth rescue mission conducted with El Paso County Combined Search and Rescue in the month of August,” El Paso Air Branch Director Efren Gonzalez stated in the press release. “The important lifesaving coordination and training we conduct with our local COMSAR partners has really paid off with these life-saving missions.”
A video of Saturday’s rescue operation shows the injured hiker being hoisted into the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter and being transported to a local hospital.
In Tuesday’s press release, Customs and Border Protection explained that Air and Marine Operations executes missions in both air and maritime environments throughout the United States, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico as part of Customs and Border Protection’s operations.
