Elderly Man Spent 8 Hours In Canyon After 200-Foot Fall

Elderly Man Spent 8 Hours In Canyon After 200-Foot Fall

POSTED: 4:34 pm PST January 21, 2009
UPDATED: 11:47 am PST January 22, 2009

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Officials said a man survived a 200-foot fall, but spent eight hours alone on the side of a cliff in the Kern River Canyon.

Around 3 p.m., the sheriff’s department helicopter was able to locate the unidentified man who was reported missing early Wednesday morning near the bottom of Highway 178 in the Kern River Canyon.

The man’s wife reported him missing early Wednesday morning when he didn’t show up for a dialysis treatment.

Officer Danny Reiswig of the California Highway Patrol said, "He tried to drive the vehicle back up the mountain, got out of his car, locked it and started walking up the mountain where we assume he collapsed on his way up."

Rescue crews were able to hoist him up and took him to a local hospital for treatment.

The CHP said the man was lucky because his vehicle didn't even roll, which is amazing due to how far he drove off the roadway.

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