Snowmobiler rescued from a mine shaft near Creston
Posted December 29, 2010 7:32 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CRESTON (NEWS1130) – A snowmobiler has a broken ankle and wrist but is alive after a 30-metre plunge down an abandoned mine shaft.
The 53-year-old man from Creston, BC, was out with two friends Tuesday in the Kootenay Pass near Nelson, when he fell down the open shaft.
Scott Spencer, with Nelson Search and Rescue, says the mine was old and dangerous for anyone inside. “[It] is supported by old timbers and logs, so a fairly dangerous situation that he was in. Many people who have been there describe it as a miracle that he was alive.”
The man’s friends managed to drag him to within 12 metres of the mouth of the shaft when help arrived.
Mounties say the opening of the mine shaft might have been covered by snow. This area had seen a lot of mining activity in past decades and is known to have various abandoned shafts and other hazards.
