After a fall from a cliff during a trip to a waterfall near Laurel River Lake, a Corbin teenager was left stranded with leg and knee injuries before rescuers also had to contend with copperhead snakes appearing in the area after dark.
According to WKYT, he had no regular cell signal, and the search focused on the trail behind the spillway.
Here's what to know
Matthew Perez, a Corbin High School graduate, said he was with friends and tried to cross rocks when he slipped.
"So we're going to find a way to get down, across the rocks, I slipped and fell down one of the cliffs. Fell off it," Perez said.
After the fall injured his leg and knee, Perez said he realized a normal call would not go through and turned to his phone's satellite texting feature.
He said, "Told me I didn't have any service, had satellite. Gave me the option about texting options. Sent out 'lost and trapped.'"
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Emergency responders then used that alert to narrow down where he was. Jerry Rains of Whitley-Laurel County Emergency Management said dispatchers mapped the signal and identified his location on the trail system: "Dispatchers reached out to me and we were able to plot it on a map and determine it was on the trail behind the spillway going toward Noe's dock."
Video filmed by Perez's friends showed rescuers swimming out to him, and they later lifted him out by helicopter.
More background
Once the light started to fade, the situation changed again. Perez said firefighters noticed copperheads nearby, which forced rescuers to adjust how they removed him.
"As it got darker, one of the firefighters said they saw copperheads and he killed a couple and then he had to move me from where I landed to the other side of the pond," Perez said.
He survived the rescue and said his injuries haven't stopped him from getting around.
Where can I learn more?
These stories cover the same kind of outdoor close calls that made Perez's rescue more dangerous. They follow tense moments on trails and lakes, venomous snake sightings near public places, and emergency responses when reptiles create new risks.
• At lake jetties, a big northern water snake nearly tagged him, prompting cottonmouth warnings.
• In Odisha, a 12-foot king cobra appears near a bank before rescuers return it.
• In Australia, a homeowner killed a red-bellied black snake, devastating the snake catcher called in.
• In Florida, firefighters rushed to homes where invasive Burmese pythons turned alarming discoveries into emergencies.
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