Rider is rescued

Ontario Provincial Police, Timmins Fire Department, Paramedics and even Porcupine Area Search and Rescue all spent the night in the bush south of Timmins in a dramatic rescue effort, after a rider fell from a horse Friday afternoon while riding near the Grassy River in Price Township. Details are sketchy but police say the horse slipped on the riverbank and fell onto the rider. The rider called for help using a cellphone, but the batteries soon died. OPP launched a search and the missing rider was discovered shortly after midnight, early Saturday morning. The horse had to be rolled off the rider and into the river, so the rider could be freed. The horse was rescued as well. By daylight, a boat (above) was launched on the Grassy River to help transfer the patient across the river to a waiting ambulance. One ambulance got bogged down on a remote bush road and the patient then had to be carried to another ambulance waiting nearby. It was after nine oclock Saturday morning, that the patient was finally transported to Timmins and District Hospital. More information will be posted by The Timmins Times as it becomes available.