What started as an ATV pleasure ride Wednesday in Scott County ended in a rescue around 8:30 am this morning here in Campbell County.

According to authorities, a man and a woman reported that their ATV ended up getting stuck somewhere in Scott County close to 2 pm on Wednesday.  From there, they were on foot and without a mobile phone signal.

Near 4 am Thursday morning, Campbell County E-911 Dispatcher Jessica Burns learned that the couple was able to locate a signal, and that they had made a call out.  Fellow dispatcher Casey Wilhoit discovered that the couple’s calls were actually going to the Scott County 911 Dispatch Center.

Wilhoit obtained the coordinates from the mobile phone tower pings to aid searchers.  He said the coordinates were spot on.  Campbell County EMA Director Jay Muncy, members of the La Follette Rescue Squad and deputies with the Campbell County Sheriff’s Department were then able to shift their search toward the Red Ash Baptist Church area at the Old National Coal 914 Road.  Some 19-hours later, not far from the 914 road, the couple was found on what one official termed as a real “goat trail.”  Wilhoit said it took search crews about 90-minutes to reach the couple after getting the coordinates.

It was reported that one of the pair was suffering from an injured ankle and the other an injured leg forcing them to just stay put once they had phone service.  Where their ATV is is now anybody’s guess.  (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 03/14/2019-9AM)