The US Coast Guard have rescued a visually impaired hiker and his guide dog, who were left behind on a Oregon trail in sweltering temperatures for over two days.
The 55-year-old man was hiking on the Rogue River Trail with a friend when he started showing signs of heat exhaustion. As neither of had find coverage on their cell phones, the friend had no choice but to leave his blind colleague with his guide dog and and go in search of help.
The pair, plus guide dog, had began hiking the on Wednesday July 3 and the visually impaired man began to show symptoms of heat exhaustion on Saturday July 6.
At that point the friend left the other man with his dog and food and water, then headed toward Gold Beach to call for emergency services.
According to a Facebook post by US Coast Guard Pacific Northwest:
“Oregon Department of Emergency Management and the Josephine County Sheriff's Office worked with Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Oregon & Washington to develop a rescue plan in the remote area. In the early morning hours on Monday. A BLM ranger and a sheriff set out, and by 9am the man was located.
“The man could not walk and the terrain was too rough for a wheel litter. The Coast Guard crew was vectored in, rescue swimmer deployed, the man and his dog were hoisted, and were then safely taken to EMS at Grants Pass Airport.”
The sheriff's office added that even though the hiker was experienced, the record-breaking heatwave that has been affecting western and southern states proved too much for him.
But Commander Jay Kircher, the pilot in command of the rescue, told Fox News that hiker and his friend did everything right once they identified the issues and while waiting for help to come.
"Importantly, he did the exact correct thing, which was to stay put and to stick with the plan that he came up with with his friend. If he had tried to walk out, you know, a day or so later, after his friend left, we may not have found him.”
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