An Arrowsmith SAR volunteer helps guide an injured hiker who had fallen into Nile Creek up to a helicopter on Sunday, May 2. (Arrowsmith SAR)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

Rescued hiker

VIDEO: Hiker flown to safety after falling into Nile Creek

May 3, 2021 | 1:26 PM

QUALICUM BEACH — Arrowsmith Search and Rescue crews retrieved a woman who’d fallen from a remote hiking trail into Nile Creek below.

Arrowsmith SAR manager Ken Neden said he and colleagues stretchered the injured hiker up a small cliff to the the trail via rope in the rural Bowser area west of the Island Hwy on Sunday, May 2.

“Unfortunately where she stepped the bank it gave way and she slipped and fell roughly 10 meters into a rocky area of the water pool,” Neden said, who noted the best course of action was for a helicopter to hoist her out.

He said the Oceanside-area woman was conscious and in “a fair bit of pain” as she was flown away in a helicopter with SAR volunteers from Campbell River and the Comox Valley aboard.

Neden said it was a fairly technical rescue in a remote location.

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“It was about a 20 or 30 minute hike from the nearest logging road and along the creek which is fairly narrow and slippery and then to get all of the gear to where she had fallen.”

The woman was prepared for the hike and was with a small group of hikers, Neden said.

It was a busy Sunday for Arrowsmith SAR officials, who also assisted in successful missing person searches in Nanaimo and Qualicum Bay.

Neden pointed to the AdventureSmart website as an invaluable safety resource for a variety of outdoor activities.

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