Lost hikers helped from Hoosier National Forest on Saturday night

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Two hikers from Indianapolis were rescued Saturday night after they became lost in the Hoosier National Forest in the Maumee area, police report.

The effort to get Alyssa Broughton and Cynthia Broughton and their two dogs out of the forest took several hours after they were found because of the terrain and their extreme exhaustion, according to a news release from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

The search began at about 6:17 p.m. when dispatchers at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department received a call about two lost hikers in the far northwestern part of the county.

Dispatcher Mitch Ray took the initial call and was able to get a general location by talking with the women. County officers Dustin Steward and Adam Nicholson and county reserve officers Kevin Settle and Joe Francis then responded to the area of county roads 1400W and 1000N.

Nicholson was the first to arrive and he turned on the siren on his patrol car to see if the Broughtons could hear it.

Ray, who had remained on the telephone with the two hikers, told Nicholson that the women could hear the sirens, police said. At that point, Settle walked down into the woods and found the two Broughtons. He and other officers then had to help the two climb up a steep hill to get them and their dogs to safety and back to their car so they could return home, police said.

Pershing Township and Owen Township volunteers had initially been called to the area west of the Maumee Scott Reservation to help with the search, but were not needed since police were able to find the women quickly.

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