A man and a woman hurt in an apparent zip line accident on St. Croix Friday were back home in Connecticut and Missouri with broken bones and other injuries, officials confirmed Tuesday.
Jason Bomar, 58, and Jeanne Glidewell, 32, were rescued by U.S. Coast Guard helicopter Friday from a 200-foot-tall platform used by Carambola Zipline.
St. Croix Rescue Chief Jason Henry said the two suffered broken ribs, an ankle break, and facial injuries. They were treated in Puerto Rico at the Centro Medico Hospital in San Juan before being flown to the mainland.
Officials from Carambola Zipline did not respond to multiple requests for comment on what happened.
St. Croix Rescue and Coast Guard officials said emergency personnel were contacted around 1:15 p.m. Friday with reports of a high-speed collision between people on the zip line course. Dramatic video shows Coast Guard personnel lowering down to the platform and pulling the injured people back up.
Upon arrival, Fire and Rescue personnel found the two stranded on remote Platform 3, which was only accessible by zipping down to the platform.
Fire and Rescue dispatched two teams. The first attempted to reach the platform by an off-road trail using off-road vehicles and eventually hiking on foot because of the challenging terrain and robust vegetation. The second team, which included firefighters, Rescue personnel, and an Emergency Medical Services paramedic supervisor, ziplined down to the stranded people and conducted a thorough assessment, providing medical care.
The Coast Guard sent an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter that carefully hoisted the two off the platform in stretchers.
”This case highlights the importance of teamwork,” said Lt. David Tirado Tolosa, Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawk aircraft commander for the medevac. “It was a complex location to hoist two injured persons, but our crew and the local rescue personnel did an amazing job stabilizing them which allowed us to conduct the hoists safely. We are very glad to have transported these patients to receive the medical care they required.”
