Injured Man Trapped In Abandoned Mine Rescued By RivCo Firefighters

GOOD HOPE, CA — A man digging inside a mine on a Good Hope hillside was injured Thursday, requiring firefighters to rescue him from the shaft.

The "man trapped" call was received about 12:15 p.m. west of the intersection of Olive and Read streets, in the vicinity of an area known as Gavilan Hills, according to Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department. The area is located east of Lake Elsinore, in unincorporated area between Interstates 15 and 215.

According to the agency, the excavator was digging around in the abandoned shaft and suffered an unspecified head injury.

Firefighters were able to locate the victim, whose name was not disclosed, less than an hour later and extricate him from the mine, according to reports from the scene.

A sheriff's STAR-9 helicopter crew airlifted the patient to a staging area, where he was placed in an ambulance and taken to a regional trauma center for treatment.

His condition was not immediately known.