Drone deployed in search for hiker lost at night on steep NC mountainside, police say
A hiker lost at night on a steep N.C. mountainside managed to call 911 for help moments before the phone battery died, Gaston County police said Tuesday.
One of two drones launched by police spotted the hiker in rugged terrain in Crowders Mountain State Park in Gaston County around 6 p.m. Monday, police said. The drones have thermal technology to find a person’s location.
The hiker “was sitting on a large boulder on the very steep and rugged mountainside,” police said in a news release.
The hiker saw the approaching drone and shouted for help, police said.
The drone spotted the hiker soon after police launched it from the summit of King’s Pinnacle on the mountain.
Police drone pilots guided park rangers to the hiker, who was uninjured and walked with the rangers to an ATV, according to the police department. The hiker’s name was not released.