Three people were injured Wednesday afternoon after they were reportedly struck by a boulder in the Sandia Mountains.
According to an AFR press release, eleven apparatus from Albuquerque Fire Rescue were dispatched to the Embudo Canyon Trailhead at about 3:30 p.m. for a call about a boulder that rolled down a hill in the mountains and “possibly crushed three people.”
Embudo Canyon Trailhead is located at the east end of Indian School where it dead ends at the foothills. It is an approximately 7-mile round trip hike to the Tres Pistolas trail and back. On February 29th, Albuquerque Police Officers were called to a fatal shooting in the parking lot of the trailhead.
A group of about 25 hikers was found over a mile up the mountain, including two who were severely injured and taken downhill by helicopter and then by ambulance to the University of New Mexico Hospital. A third patient, the release states, had a minor lower leg injury and chose to seek medical care on her own.
Crews from the Bernalillo County Fire Department, New Mexico State Police and Albuquerque Ambulance Service, along with local search-and-rescue crews, also took part in the effort.
The rescue took about three hours, the release states. The rest of the hikers were escorted down to a command post and evaluated for injuries. A roll call confirmed that the entire group was accounted for, the release states.
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