Teen Relives Moment He Fell Over 70 Feet at Grand Canyon: ‘I Lost My Grip and Started to Fall’

A North Dakota teen is reliving the moment he fell over 70 feet from a cliff at the Grand Canyon.

Wyatt Kauffman, 13, slipped and fell at the Bright Angel Point trail on Tuesday. According to ABC News, authorities said it took emergency responders two hours to rescue him.

A helicopter flew Kauffman to a hospital in Las Vegas, where he received medical care for his injuries, which included a collapsed lung, a ruptured spleen, a concussion and fractures in his hand and finger, per the outlet. 

Kauffman, lying in a hospital bed, told 12 News in a video interview on Thursday that he was standing on the ledge and “moving out of the way for people to take a picture” before the fall.

Boy, 13, in Stable Condition After Falling Over 70 Feet into Grand Canyon

“I was squatting down and hanging onto it [the rock],” he told the outlet, adding “I only had one hand on it, so it wasn’t that good of a grip.”

“It was kind of pushing me back,” he continued, “and I lost my grip and started to fall back.”

Wyatt told 12 News that his memory of the event was sparse, noting that he only remembers waking up in the back of the helicopter while flying to the hospital.

“Two hours is an eternity in a situation like that,” the boy’s father, Brian Kauffman, told the outlet, adding that emergency crews had to “repel down the cliff” to get his son “out of the canyon in a basket.”

Search and Rescue personnel preparing to do a rescue at Bright Angel Point.

NPS Photo/Robert Evans

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Brian — who was in North Dakota at the time — took the first flight to Las Vegas upon hearing the news, telling 12 News that “It was one of the most heart-wrenching phone calls I’ve ever had.”

“His face looks so much better today than it did even yesterday,” he said, adding “We were just lucky we’re bringing our kid home in a car, in the front seat, instead of in a box.”

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Wyatt is the family’s only child and is expected to endure a long recovery, according to Fox 43. 

“I can say with great confidence that they put to use advanced medical skills in an austere environment that are rarely executed in most other places,” Meghan Smith, preventive search and rescue supervisor, said in a National Park Service statement.

“It’s clear that their training and hard work paid off, leading to a smooth, timely operation that will no doubt lead to better outcomes for this patient.”

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Source: HIS Education