A 51-year-old woman fell about 20 feet from a path at Glen Onoko falls in Jim Thorpe into the river below on Saturday afternoon.

It took about two hours for firefighters to rescue the woman, whose identity was not released.She was flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Cedar Crest.The rescue operation was under the direction of Jim Thorpe Fire Chief Jarrod Steber.One of the firefighters who responded, Wayne Nothstein of the Lehighton Fire Department, said someone heard the woman screaming and it was discovered she had fallen.The incident happened at about 4:15 p.m. in the lower falls. Glen Onoko has three falls at various levels.Responding with apparatus and manpower were rescue personnel from fire departments in Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Nesquehoning, Summit Hill, Penn Forest Township, and Lehigh & Lauzanne in Lehigh Township.This is the fourth rescue from the falls this year.The most serious happened on April 14 when Jesse Michael Crossley, 20, of Catasauqua fell from the upper falls and was killed.In addition to the deaths, there have been numerous injuries over the years.Glen Onoko Falls are reached by hiking a trail through Lehigh Gorge State Park. David Madl manages the park and has seen his share of tragedies.Despite a sign at the base of the falls that warns of the dangers, "Hikers have been seriously injured and killed as a result of accidental falls from the trail and gorge overlooks," several people have plunged to their deaths, including Mark E. Kreiger, 17, of Lehighton, who died in 1977; David R. Carlyon, 23, and his nephew, Ian Russell, 3, of Montgomery County, 1983; Douglas George, 25, of Allentown, also 1983; Patrick Phraner, 22, of New Jersey, 1990; Jonathan Eubert, 17, of Schuylkill Haven, 1996; and Daniel R. Ziegler, 26, of Lehighton, 1997."People want to get out a little farther to see the view and hit that slippery rock. The rocks are slippery with algae," Madl said earlier this year. "People get close to where the rocks are slippery, and gravity does the rest. It doesn't take much."Outdoorsman Doug Fogal said earlier this year that most accidental falls don't happen on the climb, but instead on the way down.