Crews Find Missing Hiker
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Crews Find Missing Hiker
Rescue crews brought a man, missing in the Red River Gorge, down off the top of a ledge Thursday afternoon. The man had spent 24 hours lost in the woods.
Reporter: Dave Spencer
Email Address: dave.spencer@wkyt.com
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Crews spent all day Thursday looking for 20-year-old Ben Simonson of Winchester. The man went hiking in the Gorge, in Wolfe County, Wednesday night. He called his mother around 4pm to tell her he was lost.

Rescue crews looked for Simonson Wednesday night into Thursday morning. They eventually found him last night after he lit a fire. A rescue helicopter saw the flames on the top of the ledge but crews couldn't get to him in the dark.

Searchers were finally able to get to Simonson around 2:30pm Thursday afternoon. They followed his trail until they found the man and then walked him down off the cliff. Simonson reunited with his parents, who had been at the Gorge all night searching for him, and then went home hungry and exhausted.

Crews say the fact that Simonson stayed where he was and did not wander the woods was a large factor in finding him safely.


Latest Comments

Posted by: Anonymous Location: Estill County on May 16, 2007 at 01:35 AM

Im glad that we were able to find Ben and return him to his family.
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Posted by: beth Location: martinsville ohio on May 15, 2007 at 05:06 PM

I am Ben's cousin and I just wanted to thank the rescue crews that found him. What a great ending. Like my uncle said, those situations don't always end so fortunately. Ben didn't panic and end up further in the woods and the rescue crews did an incredible job. Thanks
[ Report Abuse ]
Posted by: Susan Location: New Vienna, OH on May 14, 2007 at 08:55 PM

I am a family member of Ben's and we are all very Greatful to everyone who helped to rescue him. Cell phones can be a pain for some people, but in this case it saved a life. What might have happened years ago, before we had cell phones? Thanks again to everyone who assisted.
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