EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Las Cruces Fire Department’s Technical Rescue Team has been busy during the past week.
Last week, the team helped with a search and body recovery of a 63-year-old man who died from a fall in the Organ Mountains.
On the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 5, LCFD’s Technical Rescue Team joined Mesilla Valley Search and Rescue, Organ Mountain Technical Rescue and New Mexico State Police in the body recovery mission.
The man was from Columbus, Ohi, Las Cruces Fire said. The search and recovery mission was completed about 3 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 6.
New Mexico State Police said they did not believe foul play was involved in the incident.
On Sunday, for the second time in four days, the Las Cruces Fire Department’s Technical Rescue Team was called to help find a lost or stranded hiker in the Organ Mountains.
About 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9, five members of LCFD’s Technical Rescue Team were activated to help locate a hiker who was stranded near The Needle, the highest point of the Organ Mountains. The Needle sits at an elevation of about 9,000 feet above sea level, about 5,100 feet above Las Cruces.
LCFD’s TRT was joined by the U.S. Border Patrol’s Search and Rescue team, New Mexico State Police, Mesilla Valley Search and Rescue and the Organ Mountain Technical Rescue team.
The hiker, a 29-year-old man, was located by a Border Patrol helicopter flying in stiff winds near the peak of The Needle, the Las Cruces Fire Department said.
The hiker was guided down The Needle, with help from a helicopter spotlight, to a MVSAR team that had scaled the mountainside to a rendezvous point. Rescue teams were then able to help the man descend trails to the rescue staging area.
The man, who was hiking alone, was not injured, Las Cruces Fire said.
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