Norfork teenager survives cliff fall

— A Norfork teenager who fell from a bluff near the White River on Monday was in fair condition at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday.

Sam Carriere, 13, was hiking or walking with some friends Monday afternoon when he fell from the bluff near Riverview Drive and Baxter County Road 106 in Norfork, Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said.

The teenager fell about 20 feet. Rescue workers were able to reach him and take him to a waiting ambulance.

“He was alert and coherent when he was rescued,” Montgomery said.

Rescue workers were on the scene for less than an hour and included personnel from the sheriff’s office, the Norfork police and fire departments, and Baxter Regional Medical Center Ambulance Service.

Monday’s case was the second time in two weeks that authorities have mounted a rescue on the bluffs overlooking the White River in the Norfork area.

A man died and a woman was injured when they fell from a 100- to-120-foot high cliff during the early morning hours of Dec. 9.

Charles Edward Ragland Jr., 37, of Mountain Home was killed in the fall. His companion, Elizabeth Suzanne Hubbard, 40, also of Mountain Home, was critically injured.

Although the investigation into the plunges isn’t finished, authorities said those falls appear to be accidental. They said they believed alcohol was a factor.

Ragland’s body was sent to the state medical examiner’s office to determine the manner and cause of death, and authorities have not received preliminary results.

Investigators are also awaiting a report from a National Park Service team that conducted a “fall analysis” at the site.

Hubbard, who suffered a broken neck, broken back, head trauma and other injuries, was able to talk to investigators over the past week from her room at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, Mo.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 13 on 12/23/2009

Upcoming Events