Guam's hiking community, along with friends and family, are mourning the death of Reed Topasna, who died Saturday evening after a 35-foot fall into a hole during a hike in the Mount Taene area in Sånta Rita-Sumai. Topasna, an avid hiker for the past 30 years, was in the Mount Taene area celebrating his “birthday hike,” according to his cousin and fellow hiker Ryan San Nicolas. “Yesterday was his birthday, too, from what I know.
He passed away and that was like a birthday hike for him,” San Nicolas said. “From the details that I know, he fell into a hole that was 35 feet in depth.” “It’s just sad, all the circumstances, how it happened, and it happened on his birthday.
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When I got off the phone with his wife, ...
I didn’t know the scope and the magnitude of the situation, the 35-foot hole. I was like, 'Reed will get out.' An hour later, I found out he passed,” San Nicolas said The Guam Fire Department responded to Mount Taene at 2:46 p.
m. Saturday. “The distressed hiker, a 53-year-old male, fell in a hole approximately 35 feet.
GFD rescue personnel conducted rope rescue operations and were able to make contact with the patient and extract him out of the hole. While conducting their assessment of the patient, the patient became pulseless and breathless. GFD, with the assistance of Joint Region Marianas Fire and Emergency Services, conducted CPR in the trail and (a helicopter and crew from U.
S. Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25) arrived on scene a.