A 17-year-old female hiker has been rescued after falling 15 metres from a cliff while attempting to take a selfie at Raven Cliff Falls in Georgia. The incident occurred on Friday just after 5pm near the town of Helen, prompting a multi-agency response involving 18 emergency services.
Rescuers found the teenager wedged from the chest down in a crevice a third of the way down the falls. Using ropes, they rappelled from the cliff to reach her, with assistance from a Georgia State Patrol helicopter that lowered members of the Cobb County Georgia Search and Rescue team.
After six hours, rescue workers freed the hiker from the rocks and lifted her to safety using ropes. She sustained only minor bruises and scratches and was able to walk out of the woodland in the early hours of Saturday morning with help from rescue teams, according to White County Fire and Emergency Management Agency Battalion Chief Josh Taylor.
The hiker was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment; no further details on her condition were available. Chris Wright of the Rabun County Technical Rescue Team described the situation as looking grim at times, but praised the combined efforts of federal, state and local agencies, calling the rescue a 'miracle'.
