UPDATED: Woman injured in swimming accident
Steep terrain made it difficult for 12 members of the Cowichan Bay Fire Rescue and two B.C. Ambulance paramedics to reach a woman injured while tubing on the Koksilah River Sunday.
"There was a group of four tubing up in the Marble Falls area,'' said Cowichan Bay Fire Chief Ken Bulcock. "I guess she was walking on a rock and slipped on a rock and dislocated her shoulder.''
Banks are high on both sides of the river and B.C. Ambulance members preferred to take her out on a basket stretcher so she needed to get to a more accessible location. Members of the tubing group took it upon themselves to get the injured woman to a place where she could be more easily reached.
She was taken out on Hooper Road, off Kingburne Drive.
"I think it took an hour from the time she got hurt to the time they floated her down,'' said Bulcock.
"It was just a lot of work. That's why you've got 12 guys taking the stretcher up and down the trails. It was a good workout for the guys.''
River incidents keep local rescue crews busy throughout the summer.
"Twice a year, three times a year we've been called down to that area,'' said Bulcock.
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