Fire crews rescue woman who fell from cliff at Cape Split
THE CHRONICLE HERALD | Published July 9, two thousand sixteen – Trio:13pm | Updated July 11, two thousand sixteen – 1:59PM
A youthfull medical student who plunged thirty metres over a cliff pursuing her dogs is fortunate to be alive, witnesses say.
Dartmouth`s David Fowlie and his wifey Pauline couldn`t believe what they were watching as the woman went over the edge at Cape Split.
«She`s an utterly fortunate chick. Enormously,» David Fowlie said.
«(The dogs) were running and she ran after them . . . hollering at them and we were attempting to get her to stop. We were yelling at her,» he said.
«The other dog came back and the 2nd dog went down and she followed it down.»
«Next thing we could see . . . (was) this purple going down the other side of a cliff face. She went straight down. Her feet went from under her . . . and you could see the earth was a different colour, you know how earth falls from a bank? That’s what happened.
«I ran around to see where she was to look at her. If no one had been there, she`d be in real trouble.
The woman, 25-year-old Erin Handspiker, was draping onto a branch.
«She was there by herself. . . No one would have found her.»
Fowlie`s wifey is a nurse.
«We kept her talking, kept her alert and told her to stay still. Another woman had a phone to call 911.
«She knew her name, and was complaining about being cold.» The woman`s mother, who was waiting on shore for rescuers, told the Chronicle Herald that her daughter attends medical school in the U.S. and is home for the summer.
Cpl. Andrew Joyce of the RCMP confirmed the youthfull woman`s age Sunday morning, but would not disclose her injuries.
Cpl. Joyce did say they were more serious than very first thought. Originally, she was believed to have had only a sprained wrist despite tumbling thirty metres.
Others, who didn’t see Handspiker go over the edge, observed the rescue.
«There was kind of a crowd already gathered around, just making sure that she kept still, telling her her dog was alright,» said hiker Benjamin Brown from Port Williams.
Emergency services were called out at 1:46 p.m.
A Kings County Cable Rescue Team climber descended the cliff, secured the victim and descended another fifty metres to the beach. Fresh Minas Fire Service took the woman by boat to the nearest wharf.
Brown said she was conscious and people were telling her paramedics were on their way.
«We determined we should most likely get out of the way when they attempted to land a helicopter, so we hiked out of it,» said Brown.
In all, firefighters from Kentville, Waterville, Canning and Fresh Minas, a strap rescue team, Zodiacs, ATVs, an EHS ambulance and LifeFlight helicopter were involved in the rescue at the provincial park on the Bay of Fundy.
This is the 2nd rescue at Cape Split in latest months. Two stranded hikers were helped at the end of May.
Eyewitness Fowlie said he has concerns about the danger off-leash dogs can present, to their owners and others.
«Dogs should be on a leash. They`re running around, running on the edge and people go after them.
«The dogs were fine, they just ended up in a spot where they couldn`t get out.»
Even after the fall, dogs were liberate and under foot, he said.
«People were standing around watching, and they had dogs running around. Put your dogs on a leash.»