Heroic NYPD cops battled ferocious winds and sub-freezing temperatures as one was lowered from a hovering helicopter onto a mountaintop cliff early today to rescue two near-dead West Point cadets who’d gotten stranded in the dead of night after wandering away from their unit during a training exercise.
The amazing death-defying rescue took place about 2:30 a.m. atop Storm King Mountain several miles north of the United States Military Academy at a time temperatures had plunged to 18 degrees and winds were gusting as high as 50 mph.
Aviation Unit Officer Steve Browning and Detective Mike Sileo, pilot and co-pilot and their crew of three used infrared and night vision equipment to spot the wayward cadets, who were suffering from hypothermia while trapped on the craggy, tree-ringed cliff. Browning was able to maintain the Bell 412 Air, Sea Rescue chopper in position hovering high over the rugged terrain while Emergency Services Unit medic Chris Condon was lowered to the stricken cadets.
Condon placed a "horse collar" on one of the cadets, who was then hoisted back to the safety of the helicopter, which then had to fly off to a special landing zone set up in a field at West Point because the chopper could only handle one more passenger at a time.
The pilot then rushed back to the mountain, which overlooks the Hudson Rover about 40 miles north of New York City, and hauled Condon and the second cadet safely aboard.
The cadets, neither of whom was identified, were rushed by ambulance to the Keller Army Medical Center at West Point, where they were treated for hypothermia.
MP Sgt. Seth Simms said the cadets were still in the hospital.
"They're going to be OK, but they're still being treated for hypothermia," he said this morning.
The pair were on a training exercise late last night when they became disoriented and got separated from their unit. Because of the darkness and rugged terrain, efforts to locate and rescue them by searchers on the ground failed. A New York State Police chopper finally spotted them shortly after midnight today, and the NYPD was called in.
The NYPD chopper left Floyd Bennett Field about 1:30 a.m. with Browning, Sileo, Dondon and detectives Fernando Almeida and William Stevens aboard.
They reached the mountain about 2:10 a.m. and with the help of the infrared and night vision equipment were able to locate the freezing cadets and complete the rescue by 3 a.m. The chopper had used up most of its fuel and had to land at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh to refuel before heading home.
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