A hiker was taken to hospital with serious injuries after falling nine metres off a rocky outcrop at Pipers Lagoon Park in Nanaimo on Saturday evening.
Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant fire chief David Dales said the department received multiple 911 calls about a woman who had fallen off the outcrop and onto the rocks below.
Firefighters had to perform a water rescue, he said, adding the location where the woman had landed would have been underwater during extreme high tides.
“They basically walked in the water to about their knees to get the patient around the point,” he said.
The woman was found in “serious and critical condition” near B. Monahan Point, on the eastern side of the park, he said.
The Nanaimo Port Authority, Canadian Coast Guard, and Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue Nanaimo assisted with the rescue, he said.
B.C. Emergency Health Services confirmed that one person was transported to hospital in serious condition.
An air ambulance helicopter and two ground ambulances were dispatched in response to the incident, it said in a statement.
Dales said while such incidents are not common, firefighters regularly train for Pipers Lagoon Park responses and the department has been called to the park three times so far this year.
Dales urged people to be cautious while in a “vertical environment.”
Kirsty MacDonald, acting manager of park operations for Nanaimo, said caution notices are posted throughout the park, with visitors warned to watch for loose rocks, slippery surfaces, tree roots and other natural obstacles.
Located north of downtown Nanaimo, Pipers Lagoon Park features a number of “twisting trails that lead to a number of seaside lookouts,” according to the City of Nanaimo’s website.
