SAN JUAN COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) — An injured young woman who spent two days in the wilderness was rescued after she was discovered by a train passenger traveling along the Animas River.
The Silverton Medical Rescue Team received a search and rescue call on Monday before noon after a Durango Silverton Narrow Gauge Train passenger spotted an injured woman on the riverbank of the Animas River south of the Colorado Trail. San Juan County officials said train staff checked out the claim and called the San Juan County emergency center.
The county said the woman is in her 20s and from the Aztec, New Mexico area. She broke her leg on a day hike on the Colorado Trail in the Deer Park area and was forced to survive two days in the outdoors.
The county’s Facebook page said she left the trail and headed south along the Animas riverbank when she fell and broke her leg.
“After two days, she managed to get herself to a visual spot along the Animas riverbank and flagged down the morning’s first train headed to Silverton. Once the train passenger noticed the distressed woman across the river on the bank, they alerted train staff who then initiated an emergency response,” the post says.
Two staff members on the train, who are also La Plata County medics, crossed the river and attended to her until the Silverton Medical Rescue team arrived.
The search and rescue team was flown in by Careflight from Montrose and they set up a rope to get the woman across the Animas River. She was then transported from Deer Park by helicopter to Montrose Hospital.