Injured hiker flown off Deer Mountain in Ketchikan

An injured hiker was flown off Deer Mountain near Ketchikan on Saturday, Alaska State Troopers said. The 26-year-old, unable to walk, was taken to PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center.

The Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad called troopers about 10:11 am to report the hiker stranded past the summit, then responded by helicopter and flew the patient off without incident. Troopers did not describe the injury or name the hiker.

The all-volunteer squad covers more than 5,000 square miles of Southeast Alaska, a stretch of hundreds of small islands and inlets with several thousand miles of uninhabited shoreline. It works closely with the troopers, the Coast Guard and the Forest Service.