Cell Phone Aids in Hiker Rescue
Published: July 27, 2005
A hiker’s ordeal began Sunday afternoon when injured she called for help, but her cell phone went dead. Honolulu resident Karis Johns spent two windy nights in Nu`uanu valley before searchers were finally able to locate her.
911 Operator: What’s your emergency?
Johns: I’m hiking, I’m hurt and I’m lost and I’m stuck.
On her cell phone, Johns called 911 late Sunday afternoon. She had gone hiking at Manoa Falls alone and now had no idea how to get back home. But before the operator could get any more information from her, the line went dead.
Johns: I can see Pearl Harbor and the little stretch of highway. Right where I am there’s a little…
911 Operator: Tell you what, let me have your cell number first… Hello?
Search teams immediately began looking for the 27-year-old and last night eventually traced her last known location with the help of her cell phone company T-Mobile.
“They provided us with valuable information as far as the identity as well as the general area where the person may have called from,” said Det. Phil Camero of HPD’s Missing Persons Detail.
It wasn’t much information, but it was enough. Today a rescue helicopter began bringing rescuers up to a mountain in upper Nu`uanu, but high winds made things difficult and dangerous.
“On the mountains, you’re hitting accelerated updrafts and downdrafts so the aircraft shakes a lot and moves up and down a lot,” explained HFD helicopter pilot Steven Aiu. “It’s really hard getting into the landing areas we need to.”
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palmOne Treo 650 PDA Phone (Unlocked)As hours passed, hope seemed to fade. But at around 2:30 p.m. a helicopter pilot spotted Johns about 3,000 feet up at the bottom of a ravine. Half an hour later, a military helicopter and a rescue person lifted her from the valley and headed straight to the Queen’s Medical Center.
“We’re really happy,” said Capt. Kenison Tejada of the Honolulu Fire Department. “We were pulling that something positive would happen today. It came out that way, so we’re really thankful.”
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