BP agents, Pima deputies rescue man from snowy peak

Posted Jan 3, 2019

Paul Ingram
TucsonSentinel.com

CBPPima County sheriff's deputies help a Guatemalan man after rescuing him from a snowy peak near Three Points, Ariz.
CBP The man, identified only as a 38-year-old Guatemalan, waives to agents in a National Guard helicopter.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents and Pima County sheriff's deputies rescued a Guatemalan man on Wednesday from a snowcapped peak west of Tucson, authorities said.

The federal agency's public affairs office has been closed since Dec. 22 because of the government shutdown, however, the agency sent out a press release and photographs via Twitter.

The man, identified only as 38-year-old from Guatemala, called 911 and told the agents he was stranded and needed help, said a spokesman with Tucson Sector Border Patrol.

Agents with the Tucson Sector's Mobile Response team aboard a National Guard helicopter as part of "Operation Guardian Support," flew to the mountain range south of State Route 86, trying to find the area, the man described.

"Among the newly fallen snow, the man was located waving and signaling for help," the spokesman said.

Because of the terrain, and the man's precarious location, the agents requested help from the Pima County Sheriff's Department to get a helicopter with a a "short-haul hoist."

PCSD lifted the man off the mountain and lowered him to a nearby road where he was evaluated by a Border Patrol agent with EMT training.

The man was transported to a local hospital for treatment of minor injuries and further evaluation, the spokesman said.