18-Year-Old Man Critically Injured After Falling From Aqueduct In Spanish Fork Canyon
Jul 19, 2019, 5:38 PM | Updated: 10:30 pm
SPANISH FORK CANYON, Utah – An 18 year old man is hospitalized, after he fell out of the end of a large culvert, that is an aqueduct built following the Thistle mudslide of 1983.
It happened after the man and four other people were walking around in the area, just before midnight on Thursday.
Sheriff deputies say it is a place where people have trespassed for years, putting themselves in danger.
“Some have tried to go over the top and come down in, most have gone to the east end of the pipe and walk through it,” said Sgt. Spencer Cannon, with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office.
Sgt. Cannon knows this area well, because it’s a place where there have been several search and rescue or trespassing calls over the years.
He says not only is it dangerous to walk through the 250 foot long culvert, but to get there, people have to trespass on the county’s target shooting range.
Just before midnight, five people were in the area, when one of them, an 18 year old man fell, approximately 65 feet. The victim’s identity has not been released.
It was a difficult rescue, taking a couple of hours to reach him. He was airlifted to Utah Valley Hospital with a fractured skull, broken ribs, and possibly a broken hip, along with multiple lacerations.
“Whether they were joking around or stumbled here, or whatever it was, he fell, but the one thing we know for sure is if these kids had been obeying the law he wouldn’t have fallen and wouldn’t be in the hospital right now,” Sgt. Cannon added.
Seven years ago at this same location, a 21 year old man fell to his death. So there is a history of danger in this area. And officials say this injury here, may prompt new discussions to make sure people know it is illegal to trespass on this property.
