BAKER COUNTY, Ore. – A dog has helped his owner get rescued after a car crash in a steep ravine in mountainous northeastern Oregon, authorities said.
A man was driving with his four dogs on a remote U.S. Forest Service road on June 2 when he crashed into a ravine below, the Baker County Sheriff's Office said in a news release on Facebook. One of the dogs traveled nearly four miles to the campsite where the man was staying with family, which alerted them that something was wrong, the release said.
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His family located his car the following day and called 911 as they couldn't reach it in the steep terrain. When authorities arrived, they found the man about 100 yards (91 meters) from the car after they heard him yell for help. He had been able to crawl out of the car after the crash, the release said.
U.S. Forest Service employees used chainsaws to clear a path through the vegetation for search and rescue teams, who set up a complex rope system spanning from one side of the ravine to the other. Once they were able to reach the man, authorities put him in a rescue stretcher and hooked it onto the ropes, which were then used as a pulley system to transport him to the other side of the ravine as a stream raged below, photos shared by the sheriff's office showed.
The man was airlifted to a regional hospital, authorities said. His three other dogs were found alive at the scene of the crash.