WATERVILLE — Medical personnel rescued a Colby College student early Sunday morning after she allegedly crawled into one of the campus’ utility tunnels and injured her head.

Police Chief Joseph Massey said a call came in at 1:25 a.m. requesting medical and police services to help an 18-year-old woman escape a tunnel underneath Colby’s Leonard Hall. When police arrived, a medical unit was already on the scene. In the tunnel first responders were able to strap the woman to a stretcher and take her back up to street level. The student was then transported to the hospital.

From the responding officer’s investigation, Massey said the department believes the student crawled about 15 feet to the bottom of the tunnel on her own. He described the tunnel as being part of a system underneath the campus that contains steam pipes. Massey said they don’t believe that the student had fallen or that she was pushed. He said at some point during her time in the tunnel, the student hit and cut her head. The responding officer found a trail of blood inside the tunnel during his investigation.

Police were not able to speak with the injured student at the hospital and were not able to discover any more details about why and how the student got into the tunnel.

Kate Carlisle, the director of communications at Colby, said Tuesday afternoon that school officials are still investigating the matter.

Emily Higginbotham — 861-9239

ehigginbotham@centralmaine.com

Twitter: EmilyHigg

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