Pierre O. Theriault helped to save Monique Daigle from falling, Bathurst, New Brunswick, March 30, 1989. Miss Daigle, 18, fell about 30 feet from the top of a 130-foot-high cliff bordering the Tetagouche River before she grabbed hold of a young tree growing out of the cliff, thus stopping her fall. Alerted from his house nearby, Theriault, 35, carpenter, went to the cliff and began to descend it, in the dark, with his brother. They maneuvered along the face of the cliff, which contained patches of ice, and positioned themselves at a point just below Miss Daigle, intending to break her fall should she lose her hold. Rescue workers arrived and dropped a rope to them, but it was just beyond their grasp. With his brother securing him by the belt, Theriault leaned away from the cliff face and grasped the rope. After he tied the rope around himself, the rescue workers pulled him up to Miss Daigle’s position, where he was able to convince Miss Daigle to relinquish her hold of the tree. Theriault secured Miss Daigle to himself with the rope, and the rescue workers pulled both to the top of the cliff. Theriault’s brother returned unaided, retracing the course he and his brother had set out upon 90 minutes earlier.
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