Air and Marine Operations’ El Paso Air Branch received a call from El Paso COMSAR unit on August 30, 2025 after a U.S. citizen hiker had fallen off a cliff at the Franklin Mountain-Mammoth Cave in El Paso, Texas, and needed an emergency air extraction.
A hoist-capable UH-60 air crew responded to the area and collaborated with COMSAR on a hoist rescue mission.
The COMSAR team assessed the injured hiker on the ground and requested he be transported to the trauma hospital. The teams landed and transferred the patient to medical personnel for further intensive care due to the severity of his injuries.
Federal and local authorities arrested two men in conjunction to a case involving a truck of marijuana with a street value of over $3 million. The arrests led to the discovery of a sophisticated smuggling tunnel crossing from Mexico into the U.S. near Naco Arizona.
