What was supposed to be a normal day of trekking surrounded by nature turned into a sudden emergency along the Campo Pericoli ring, in the heart of the Gran Sasso. During the return phase of an excursion organized for the National Hiking Week, a young hiker from Pescara named Paolo was hit in the face by a heavy stone that fell from above, precisely from the Sella dei Grilli area.
The trigger of the landslide, however incredible, was inadvertently caused by the passage of a chamois along the slope. The violent impact caused the boy a head injury, an injury to his cheekbone and a broken nose, making it necessary to immediately intervene by mountain rescue in an area characterized by poor telephone coverage and objective logistical difficulties.
The intuition of the human arrow and the rescue
With the injured man stuck in a shaded area and the presence of numerous other groups on the paths that risked confusing the rescuers, the situation became critical. It was at that critical moment that Rita Ceci, director of the excursion, coordinated a brilliant move together with the CAI Juniores participants: placing the kids on the ground to form a large human arrow visible from above with their bodies.
Thanks to this idea, the crew of the helicopter led by Carmine Nobile and with the technical and medical staff on board identified without hesitation the exact point where the injured man, the doctor and the other members of the group who remained to provide first aid were located. With a complex winch maneuver, the young man was harnessed and urgently airlifted to the Pescara hospital for all the necessary medical treatment. A misadventure at high altitude which ended in the best possible way, demonstrating how teamwork, quick reflexes and associative cohesion can make the difference between the success of a rescue operation and a potentially dramatic situation.
