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Woman survives 20-foot fall down Petersburg tunnel

Posted at 3:41 PM, Nov 01, 2021
and last updated 2021-11-01 15:41:00-04

PETERSBURG, Va. -- Petersburg firefighters rescued a woman who fell 20-feet down into an exposed tunnel along Bank Steet in Old Town Petersburg.

The woman landed on a boulder and was partially submerged in water, firefighters said.

Petersburg firefighters used ladders and a Stokes basket to reach the woman and bring her out of the tunnel.

It took about 10 minutes to make the rescue.

"Any kind of trauma, you talk about the Golden Hour, 60 minutes, and now we're talking about MCV is a 30-minute ride. So any delay we have here on the scene, it's just delaying that hour for her to get there," Petersburg Fire battalion chief A.G. Ross said. "These guys were quick enough to where we're able to ground transfer her instead of having to call for a helicopter. So all those little things that we do have had a better impact on the patient and the survivability ratio. She is going to survive. But the longer we wait, the more injuries you can sustain, the greater the impact."

The area around the tunnel was barricaded as crews worked on a construction project in that area.

This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.

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