Maine woman rescued 3 days after 25-foot fall

LA PUSH, Wash. – A young woman who fell 25 feet and broke her leg survived for three days without food or water on a beach south of this Olympic Peninsula coastal hamlet, Coast Guard officials said.

Dana Crane, 19, of Brunswick, Maine, a student at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., was discovered Monday by Dave Skinner, an Olympic National Park volunteer who was hiking below the cliffs near Strawberry Point, about 110 miles west of Seattle, Coast Guard Petty Officer Jason Wilder said.

Crane, who apparently had not told anyone specifically where she would be, was severely dehydrated but conscious and able to respond to emergency personnel at the scene, Wilder said.

She was listed in stable condition late Monday after being flown by Coast Guard helicopter to Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles, where she was being treated for a broken leg and injuries to the pelvis, sternum and lower vertebrae.

“This young lady is extremely lucky,” park spokeswoman Barb Maynes said. “Had the volunteer not found her, it could have been a different story.”

Maynes said the fall apparently was caused by crumbling rock, a common feature throughout the park, adding that hikers should use trails whenever trying to get to the top of a cliff.

Crane, a 2004 graduate of Brunswick High School, was a participant in the Chewonki Foundation’s Maine Coast Semester program and was known as a good student who loved the outdoors.

“We’re sad to hear this, but we’re relieved to hear she’s OK,” said Chewonki President Don Hudson. “There are a lot of people here thinking about her.”