Firefighters Rescue Woman Trapped by Rocks on Beseck Mountain

Firefighters rescued a young woman who was retrieving scrap metal and got trapped by shifting rocks on the Meriden side of Mount Besek Friday morning.

The woman, who firefighters did not name, sustained injuries to her legs and was taken to Hartford Hospital, according to Fire Chief James Trainor.

The department received a call from a homeowner on Collindale Drive - part of a subdivision that abuts Mount Besek on the Meriden side – at about 9:55 a.m. Friday saying that a girl was trapped by rocks near the base of the mountain.

Carol Bonaiuto, who lives on Collindale, called firefighters. She said she heard a young man yelling for help from the mountain, which backs up to her backyard.

The man and a woman had, as they had been doing for weeks according to Bonaiuto, been salvaging some of the scrap metal from cars and other items that had been thrown off the mountain decades before. The entrance to the mountain on the Middlefield side has since been closed to vehicles.

The woman got trapped by shifting rocks, and was pinned by a rock to a junked car, according to Bonaiuto. The man was with her trying to help.

"The poor kid was holding the rock back, so it didn't crush her," Bonaiuto said.

Bonaiuto's husband Lynwood, and City Councilor Brian Daniels who lives nearby both went to help the pair, but couldn't get to them because "as they tried to get near him, the rocks kept shifting," Bonaiuto said.

The fire department sent out multiple engines and a tactical unit, who unpinned the woman. 

"It was a difficult (rescue) because it was a very rocky area - all the rubble and the rocks that fell off the mountain are up there - it's very loose," Trainor said. "It's difficult to access - (but) these guys are highly trained for high-angle rescue."

Firefighters are familiar with the mountain, and have been called on to rescue hikers who fall or become stranded there previously, including an incident last year in which two and suffered minor injuries.

Developing Story

Note: We originally said the woman had "minor injuries", but upon reviewing our video of an interview with Fire Chief Trainor find that he said the woman had received "leg injuries." We apologize for the error and have changed it.