Stranded hikers cling to steep California mountain ridge as helicopter crew swoops in

Three people stranded high on a steep Northern California mountainside were rescued by helicopter Sunday after a distress call brought crews racing to their aid.

The Sierra County Sheriff’s Office said the group was found on the Sierra Buttes, just south of a lookout tower near the mountain’s summit.

Images and video released by officials show the helicopter near the rugged mountainside as rescuers worked to reach the trio.

The sheriff’s office was alerted around 2:30 p.m. after a Garmin inReach satellite communication device sent an SOS signal to the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

Deputies launched a search and rescue response and called in the Nevada County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Mountain Rescue Team and the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office’s RAVEN helicopter crew.

Once the crew spotted the stranded group, a rescue team member was lowered from the helicopter to reach them. All three were then hoisted off the mountainside and flown to a landing zone, where Sierra County deputies were waiting.

"Due to the difficult terrain and hazardous location, a helicopter hoist rescue was necessary," the sheriff’s office said.

The agency thanked the teams involved for their "professionalism, coordination, and assistance" in bringing the rescue to a successful conclusion.

The Sierra Buttes rise above the North Yuba River canyon, with a fire lookout near the top of the approximately 8,600-foot mountain, Northern California mountains earlier this month.

Last week, a 39-year-old Florida man was flown to a hospital after he fell through a snow bridge and severely injured his leg on the Whitney Glacier. Rescuers reached the injured climber the following morning, but bad weather prevented an aerial extraction. Crews ultimately carried him to a viable helicopter landing zone the next day, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said.

Earlier this month, a 19-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman from Salt Lake City were rescued after becoming trapped between cliffs during a 36-hour ordeal on Mount Shasta. Both were uninjured, authorities said.