Alaska Man Pinned for Hours Underneath 700-Lb. Boulder Survives Unscathed

An Alaska man is lucky to be alive after surviving hours pinned under a boulder weighing approximately 700 lbs.

On Saturday, May 24, the Seward Fire Department was dispatched to a rescue in the Fourth of July Creek headwaters amid reports that a 61-year-old male was underneath a boulder, a news release shared on Facebook confirmed.

The fire department was among multiple authorities to respond, with crews initially heading to the area on foot and on ATVs, but they were only able to move slowly “due to the extreme terrain.”

Luckily, a nearby Bear Creek Volunteer Fire Department worker, who also works for Seward Helicopter Tours, heard the call while working and he offered to help authorities get to the patient quicker, cutting down 45 minutes of travel time, the release stated.

CBS News has identified the man as Kell Morris, stating his wife helped hold his head above water to prevent him from drowning after the boulder “crashed onto him” while they were hiking “near a remote glacier south of Anchorage.”

The Seward Fire Department noted in the news release that the “patient was hypothermic and in and out of consciousness” by the time crews reached him. They then “used air bags, ropes, and brute force to lift the boulder off the patient and pull him to safety.”

Authorities “re-warmed” the man and he became more alert and his vitals improved,” the release said, adding that the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center (AKRCC), through the Alaska State Troopers, was contacted to help bring the patient down the canyon.

The release added that the patient was treated at Seward Providence Hospital and is “expected to make a full recovery.”

“No life-threatening injuries were noted,” the post confirmed, thanking Seward Helicopter Tours for their help while acknowledging that it could have potentially been a “fatal outcome” otherwise. According to CBS News, the helicopter was being used to take tourists to the area as part of a sled dog company.

The outlet noted that Morris’ wife, Jo Roop, is a retired Alaska State Trooper, who moved to Seward last fall with her husband after she started working with the local police department.

The pair had headed to the more isolated area near Godwin Glacier in a bid to avoid the crowds over Memorial Day weekend, CBS News reported, citing Seward Fire Chief Clinton Crites. Morris had apparently tried to avoid the big boulders on the trail, but had eventually come across an area he couldn’t pass.

“I was coming back and everything, the whole side slid out from under me,” Morris told the outlet, adding that he’d fell around 20 feet down the embankment and was lying face down in the water.

“When it first happened, I was doubtful that there was going to be a good outcome,” Morris told CBS News, as Fire Chief Crites said that the reason he wasn’t crushed was because there were rocks under him, as well as in between his legs and around him that had caught the weight of the boulder.

Crites told the outlet of the patient walking away unscathed, “I fully anticipated a body recovery, not him walking away without a scratch on him.”

Crites did not immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for comment.