QUILCENE — A 5-year-old boy who had been kicked in the head by a mule was airlifted from the Buckhorn Wilderness Area by a Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Search and Rescue crew, according to spokesman Mike Welding.
After the call came in to NAS Whidbey Island at 11:39 p.m. Saturday, a helicopter rescue team arrived above the scene within about 25 minutes and lifted him out early Sunday morning, Welding said in a press release issued Monday.
The boy and his mother, who are from Eastern Washington, were at the Boulder Shelter, a campground deep in the Buckhorn Wilderness west of Quilcene.
In the helicopter, “they had to hover; there was too much overgrowth forest” to land, Welding said.
A rescue worker rappelled down to the boy and his mother, neither of whom were identified.
Both were extracted and transported to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday, Welding said.
The child “was bleeding profusely but was conscious and stable,” he said.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department received the initial call for help late Saturday night and asked for assistance from NAS Whidbey Island, Sheriff’s Sgt. Brett Anglin said Tuesday.
The dense forest and the location, “a significant walk” from any accessible roads, necessitated that immediate request, he said.
“We’re forever thankful for NAS Whidbey,” Anglin said, for aiding responses in “difficult terrain and borderline impossible terrain. Not only do they save lives, but they also make rescues like this end on a positive note.”
NAS Whidbey Island’s search and rescue team has gone on 36 missions so far in 2021, including 26 rescues, Welding noted, adding its territory includes the Olympic and Cascade mountains as far south as Mount Hood and eastward across Washington state.
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladaily news.com.
