A young hiker who was left unconscious after a horror climbing accident after he fell off a cliff was saved the following morning when his boss called him and woke him up to ask him why he had not shown up to work.
The 22-year-old Belgium hiker fell approximately 40 metres (131 feet) while climbing near Campan, a commune in the Hautes-Pyrenees department in the Occitanie region of south-western France on Tuesday, 3rd October.
He then remained where he had fallen overnight, unconscious, at the bottom of the cliff.
But the following morning, according to French media, he received a phone call at around 8 am from his boss asking him why he had not shown up for work. The sound of the phone caused him to come round, and the hiker then told his boss he had fallen off a cliff. His employer alerted the emergency services.
They were able to locate the unnamed hiker’s position thanks to his phone and rescued him.
A spokesperson for the mountain rescue service said: “He was able to tell us his first and last name, but we were forced to geolocate him in order to know where he was exactly.”
The dazed victim was taken by helicopter to the Pau hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with a number of injuries as well as hypothermia, although he is now said to be out of danger.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Newsflash
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