Woman survives 40-feet fall at Great Smoky Mountains

SEVIERVILLE, TN (AP) — A 63-year-old woman has survived a 40-foot fall at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Park spokeswoman Dana Soehn tells the Asheville Citizen-Times that Mary Moore fell from Laurel Falls on the Tennessee side of the park Monday morning. A rescue team secured the Florida woman in a litter and lifted her back up to the trail. Emergency responders carried her more than a mile to the trailhead, from where she was taken to a hospital.

Soehn says Moore suffered multiple injuries, but remained alert throughout the rescue operation.

Soehn says the Laurel Falls Trail is the park’s most popular trail. She says the number of people on the trail has contributed to a lot of slips and falls, but she’s not aware of any fatalities on it.