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ST. CROIX — For the second time in five days, St. Croix Rescue Squad was dispatched by 911 to an emergency call at the Annaly Bay tide pools, a press release the squad issued on Thursday revealed.

A young woman, who had hiked to the pools with her parents and boyfriend, had been injured when waves crashed over and knocked her into the rocks. The family had initially tried to hike back up the trail but were unable because of the terrain and the young woman’s injuries, according to the release.

Members of St. Croix Rescue’s High Angle Team, part of the Extrication Unit, were taken down to the tide pools by Wave Phillips of Tan Tan Tours where they did an immediate medical assessment and put a precautionary cervical collar on the patient. The patient was then loaded into the Tan Tan Tours vehicle and driven up the road to the waiting EMS ambulance. EMS provided advanced care and transported the victim to the Juan F. Luis Hospital. Her injuries were not life threatening.

“The second time this week Rescue had to respond to an emergency call at the tide pools. We ask everyone to pay attention to warnings of hazardous coastal conditions,” said Chief Gregory N. Richards of St. Croix Rescue. The tide pools are beautiful and promoted as a tourist attraction, however the road down has become more than treacherous with the recent rains and very few vehicles can take it down to pick up anyone that has been injured, the release further stated.

Chief Richards added that St. Croix Rescue, with the assistance of Tan Tan Tours, on Sunday rescued three people out of a group of seven that had been injured when waves crashed over the rocks.

“The concern of all first responders is that a rapid response and extrication will not be possible. Rescue members have carried injured persons more than two miles uphill on backboards during previous rescues,” he said.

Tan Tan Tours has provided a great service to the community by assisting with these responses getting Rescue members down to the injured and then bringing the injured to EMS, according to the release. On Thursday, Mr. Phillips was far from the North Shore and had a police escort to get him to the scene as quickly as possible.