Sonora, CA — 34 year old Darvis Lee, Jr. of Sonora was successfully rescued earlier this morning from a abandoned mine shaft in the 21000 block of Jack Page Rd. located just outside Sonora.
Members of the Search and Rescue Team from the Los Angeles County Sheriff´s Office arrived at the Columbia Airport at 12:20am. They were immediately taken to the mine shaft by members of the Tuolumne County Sheriff´s Office.
At 2:15am contact was made with Lee. His parents and an unidentified friend were at the mine site.
At 5:50am Lee was extricated from the mine and transported to Sonora Regional Medical Center with back and leg injuries.
Lee originally entered the mine at approximately 9pm Friday. His friend left thinking Lee would exit the mine shortly thereafter. However Lee had not returned home by Saturday morning.
A local neighbor, Donald Nute, then made contact with Lee who stated that he had suffered leg injuries.
During the initial rescue effort by the Sheriff Department´s Search and Rescue Team, a number of technical difficulties developed and it was determined that additional resources would be needed to complete the rescue effort. That is when the S.A.R. Unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff´s Department was contacted.
Written by Bill Johnson
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 1:38 pm