No Broken Bones for Hiker Pinned By 1000 Pound Rock
By AMANDA RAUS
Updated 11:52 PM EDT, Fri, Jul 2, 2010
A hike in the park turned into a nightmare for a Bethel man, when he got trapped under a fallen rock. Edward Candrea, 25, was stranded in Huntington State Park. He was pinned under the thousand pound boulder for more than an hour. His family says it's amazing didn't break any bones.
"He's got some morphine in him, so he was a little drugged up, not feeling that great. But from what I can understand, no broken bones, just bruises and abrasions," said Edward Candrea, Sr., his father.
Candrea had called police around 1 p.m. Friday, alerting them to his situation. It took about 40 minutes for rescue crews to find him.
"We were a long way in the woods, I can tell you that. We were a long way in the woods, we were trying to coordinate how we were going to get him in. He was in a lot of pain. It was definitely a critical situation," said Bethel Police Sgt. David Bruckenthal.
The fire department used high pressure airbags to remove the rock and squeeze Candrea out from under it. How he got there is still a mystery. Police say Candrea moved a rock, which caused another to fall. At the hospital, Candrea told his parents he was rock climbing.
"He said he was doing rock climbing, well that's what my wife said, and one of the rocks broke loose, went down the hill, landed on top of him," said Candrea, Sr.
Other hikers say the trails at Huntington State Park say the trails are safe, as long as you keep to the ones that are marked, and always remember, you are still dealing with nature.
"I've never seen anything like that occur in the all the times that we've hiked here, and I don't understand why someone would be handling boulders and rocks because it's always iffy in places like this," said Priscilla Brown of Bethel.
"It's not dangerous, really, anywhere that we've hiked. We've never had any fear of getting hurt," said Gordon Brown, also of Bethel.
"I don't even think he knows exactly what happened," said Candrea, Sr.
Unbelievably, Edward Candrea only has some bumps and bruises. He will be out of Danbury Hospital Saturday.
First Published: Jul 2, 2010 9:26 PM EDT
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