Injured hiker tracked down by quick-thinking 911 dispatcher who spotted his Facebook post from just hours earlier to pinpoint location after emergency call from his young son was cut off

• Ryan Pritchard fell 150ft from a cliff while out hiking with his two sons
• Jake, 11, dialled 911 but call cut out before he could say where they were
• Dispatchers could not get back to the Pritchards as night started to fall
• But a trainee call handler tracked the stricken father down on Facebook
• A photo showed were they were hiking, leading rescuers to their location
• Mr Pritchard now recovering in hospital after head injury and broken bones

By Ollie Gillman for MailOnline

Published: 00:42 EST, 8 January 2015 | Updated: 06:12 EST, 8 January 2015

When a 911 call from the 11-year-old son of a hiker critically injured after a 150ft fall from a cliff cut out, rescuers had no idea where to start their search.

But, thanks to a quick-thinking dispatcher, the father and son were tracked down by a picture they had posted on Facebook from the mountain earlier that day.

Ryan Pritchard and his sons Jake and Devon were hiking on a remote mountain trail near Sacramento, California, when the father slipped and fell, suffering a severe head injury.

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Ryan Pritchard fell 150ft off a cliff but, after his 11-year-old son's (pictured with another of Mr Pritchard's sons), 911 call cut out, dispatchers found him thanks to this Facebook picture

Trainee 911 dispatcher Breanna Martinez (right) tracked Mr Pritchard (left) down on Facebook, leading rescuers to the stricken father

Jake, 11, phoned 911 but the signal cut out before he could tell dispatchers where they were.

With a race against time before nightfall, the call handlers made desperate attempts to call back and track down the family.

The only clue they had was that the call connected with a cellphone tower near Vacaville - which eventually turned out to be more than 30 miles from their actual location near Lake Berryessa.

Trainee dispatcher Breanna Martinez used her initiative and started hunting down the father online, finding his LinkedIn page to work out he was from Sacramento.

From there, Ms Martinez, from California Highway Patrol, was able to find Mr Pritchard's Facebook page - and a photograph of the family.

'We are both working vigorously on trying to find out who this person is, where this person is at, especially when we don't have a definite location,' said dispatcher Shari Speakman.

The Pritchards were walking the Blue Ridge Loop Trail not far from Sacramento, California

Mr Pritchard is now recovering in hospital after suffering a head injury, several fractured bones and broken jaw in the fall

Ms Martinez added: 'I decided to search myself since they were busy, so I plugged the name into Google and his LinkedIn account came up. So I was able to get a picture and know he was from Sacramento.

'I scrolled down and the very first post was a picture of his two sons and behind him was the lake - Lake Berryessa. And it just said 'Hiking the Blue Ridge Trail today.'

The miraculous find helped rescue teams pinpoint where the Pritchards were, finding the injured father before sunset on Tuesday.

Solano County Sheriff Thomas Ferrara said: 'Being in law enforcement 31 years I don't know that I would have thought of that.'

Mr Pritchard's family say he had several fractured bones, a head injury and a broken jaw from the fall, but his son Jake was not hurt.

The father is now recovering in hospital.