Searchers Rescued After Navy Helicopter Crash; Hiker Also Found

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Navy MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter in Arizona
A pararescue jumper waits for the hoist line from the U.S. Navy MH-60S Knighthawk helicopter during a field training exercise Sept. 18, 2013, in southern Arizona. (Airman 1st Class Chris Massey/U.S. Air Force)

RENO, Nev. -- A crew looking for a hiker who was missing in the Sierra Nevada survived after their Navy helicopter crashed along the California-Nevada line, and both the searchers and the hiker were rescued over the weekend.

The four-member helicopter crew escaped injury but had to spend Friday night in the rugged wilderness before they were rescued Saturday from a mountain ridge on the state line east of Yosemite National Park, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) south of Naval Air Station Fallon, Nevada, authorities said.

The Navy is investigating the cause of the crash reported about 5 p.m. Friday, Navy spokesman Zip Upham said. The Navy MH-60 Knighthawk had been helping with the search for a lost hiker in the Inyo National Forest.

Ronald Bolen, an Oklahoma University professor who was reported missing last week on a trail, was found by hikers late Saturday or Sunday in good condition and transported for medical treatment, the Mono County sheriff's office said.

A family member told the Reno Gazette Journal that Bolen was dehydrated but otherwise in good shape.

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