A man was transported by air ambulance to a Toronto hospital with serious head injuries after falling into the Elora Gorge on Monday evening.
Fire crews from Elora and Fergus were called shortly after 5pm on June 19 for reports of a man falling into the Irvine Creek area of the gorge behind North Street in Elora.
Centre Wellington Fire Chief Brad Patton said four young men, reportedly not from the area, were hiking in the upper gorge area when one of the men fell.
Wellington County OPP officials stated the men climbed about 50 to 60 feet to the top of the gorge but then, realizing they were on residential property, decided to climb back down.
“Almost immediately after starting their descent” a 20-year-old man from North York “slipped and fell to the bottom,” police stated.
Firefighters rappelled down the gorge, loaded the patient into a rescue basket and brought him back to safe ground, Patton told the Advertiser. The man, who suffered serious head injuries, was transported by land ambulance to the parking lot of the Elora arena.
From there, an air ambulance transported him to St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, where he was initially listed in serious condition. On June 21 his condition was updated to stable.
OPP officers and firefighters walked the other three men out of the gorge to safety.
