Injured snowmobiler rescued near Castlegar

A 21-year-old Grand Forks man is expected to make a full recovery after being injured while snowmobiling near Castlegar.

RCMP say emergency services were notified about 1 p.m. Friday that a snowmobiler had been hurt while riding in the Goose Creek area.

The caller said they had received a message from a friend who was able to communicate by satellite phone. The message said the rider had been seriously injured and was receiving first aid from a friend riding with him. Embedded in the message were GPS co-ordinates of their location.

Castlegar Search and Rescue dispatched a team to the remote area.

Police say the rescue team arrived at the location and continued first aid until the man was airlifted to an ambulance and taken to hospital.

“Castlegar Search and Rescue personnel are volunteers who train regularly for a variety of unfortunate incidents which occur in remote and urban settings,” Cpl. Brett Urano said in a news release.

“Their assistance in this matter aided in the successful transport of the injured rider to the awaiting ambulance for urgently required medical treatment.”

On its Facebook site, Castlegar Search and Rescue says two of its members were flown to the site to get the injured man out.

“With the dwindling daylight hours, we also had a ground team ready to deploy with sleds from the parking lot should the helicopter team not be able to execute the rescue in time,” they wrote.

“We would like to thank all who were involved in this rescue as well as the group who was on the ground assisting us with creating a packed area for a helicopter landing zone and keeping the subject warm and dry until we could arrive.”