A U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter crew hoisted an injured hiker 180 feet to safety after the person fell from a cliff in El Paso, Texas, near Mammoth Cave in the Franklin Mountains on August 30.
The Air and Marine Operations El Paso Air Branch deployed a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter around midday August 30 after receiving an emergency call from El Paso County Combined Search and Rescue (COMSAR), according to a Tuesday U.S. Customs and Border Protection press release. The hiker had fallen from a cliff and required immediate air extraction from the remote mountain location.
Footage shows the helicopter crew executing a complex rescue operation, hoisting both the injured hiker and six COMSAR rescue team members who had reached the victim on the ground. After securing all seven individuals, the Black Hawk flew directly to a local trauma hospital where medical personnel took over treatment.
🚨RESCUE! On Saturday, Air and Marine Operations’ El Paso Air Branch received a call from El Paso COMSAR unit 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… pic.twitter.com/DRCJRZoDno
— CBP AMO (@CBPAMO) September 2, 2025
“This is our fourth rescue mission conducted with El Paso County Combined Search and Rescue in the month of August,” El Paso Air Branch Director Efren Gonzalez stated in the press release. “The important lifesaving coordination and training we conduct with our local COMSAR partners has really paid off with these life-saving missions.”
The El Paso Air Branch used a hoist-capable UH-60 Black Hawk for the operation. (RELATED: Helicopter Rescues Hiker With ‘Traumatic Injury’ Hours After Friends Abandoned Him, Officials Say)
Ground-based COMSAR personnel who reached the fallen hiker first determined the person needed trauma hospital transport, CBP Air and Marine Operations (AMO) tweet stated. The rescue teams later handed off the patient to hospital staff for intensive care treatment because of how severely the fall had injured the person.
CBP’s AMO component operates aircraft and vessels in air and sea environments in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to the press release.