According to some 6th grade students of the Beacon City School District who texted their friends with the news, a 6th grader fell while hiking on Mount Beacon during the planned school hiking trip on Friday, October 4th, hit their head, and was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital.

Update 10/4/2024: Rombout Middle School Principal Brian Solish emailed District families two hours after the incident, with permission from the student’s family, to confirm that Beacon Volunteer Ambulance Corps (BVAC) transported the student off the mountain by UTV to an ambulance, which took the student to Memorial Park, which took them with their parent by helicopter to Westchester Medical Center “out of precaution,” he said.

During the afternoon at around 3pm, neighbors spotted a helicopter flying over Beacon from the direction of Memorial Park. As reported on the Dutchess County Scanner Facebook Group, a Helicopter Landing Zone was set up at Memorial Park for the Beacon Volunteer Corps & Ambulanz who responded to Mount Beacon’s Red Trail “with a fallen pediatric hiker with head, shoulder & leg injuries as well as exposure concerns.” According to the report, it took approximately 30 minutes to get the student off the Mountain and 20 minutes for Helicopter Landing.

According to MidHudson news, the child is 11 years old, and the rescue effort also involved the Beacon Fire Department, Beacon Medic 1, DEC, and others at approximately 2:30 p.m.

If more details become available, this article will be updated.