A 14-year-old boy, Wyatt Kauffman miraculously survived a fall 100 feet deep into the Grand Canyon while touring from the North Rim.
According to reports, the teenager moved out of the way so that tourists could take picture and mistakenly went off the cliff.
It took emergency crews two hours to rescue Wyatt after he slipped on a cliff on the Bright Angel Point trail while on a family trip to the canyon last Tuesday, Mail Online reports.
The boy was airlifted to a Las Vegas hospital where he was placed under immediate treatment for nine broken vertebrae, a ruptured spleen, a collapsed lung, concussion, and a broken hand and dislocated finger.
“I was up on the ledge and was moving out of the way so other people could take a picture. I squatted down and was holding onto a rock. I only had one hand on it.
“It wasn’t that good of a grip. It was kind of pushing me back. I lost my grip and started to fall back,” Wyatt told Phoenix TV station KPNX.
Rescue crews had to abseil down the cliff and get the injured boy, who lives in Casselton, North Dakota, out of the canyon in a basket.
“I just remember somewhat waking up and being in the back of an ambulance and a helicopter and getting on a plane and getting here to the hospital,” the teenager added.
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His father, Brian Kauffman said he was in North Dakota when he received ”one of the most heart-wrenching phone calls” he has ever had about his son’s fall and rescue.
“We’re extremely grateful for the work of everyone. Two hours is an eternity in a situation like that,” Mr Kauffman said.
He said Wyatt and his mother were on a trip to visit national parks when the Grand Canyon fall occurred.
Mr. Kauffman said his son was discharged from the hospital on Saturday and was being driven home. Wyatt and his mother were expected to reach Casselton on Tuesday.
