Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter kept busy
New Zealand's Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter was kept busy on 2nd November, with the crew flying four missions across the Nelson Marlborough regions.
New Zealand's Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter was kept busy on 2nd November, with the crew flying four missions across the Nelson Marlborough regions.
At approximately 05:15 hrs, the helicopter was called to an urgent medical transfer from Tata beach in Golden Bay, transporting the patient to Nelson Hospital for further care.
At around 14:30 hrs, the crew was called to the Hori bay/Kokorua area where it was required to assist ground crews with firefighting in a steep, inaccessable area of pine forest.
Almost immediately on returning to base, the helicopter was again called out, this time at 16:50 hrs to assist at the scene of a tractor accident in Brooklyn, near Motueka. A 67-year-old man had been crushed by the rear wheel of a tractor suffering chest injuries. He was assessed and treated on-scene by St John ambulance staff and the onboard intensive care paramedic before being flown to Nelson Hospital in a serious condition.
The aircraft was again needed at 17:45 hrs, this time to rescue an injured climber at the Hodder Huts on the side of Mt Tapuae-O-Uenuku, Marlborough. The 30-year-old Blenheim woman had badly injured her ankle while decending from the mountain summit on the afternoon of 1 November, and had to be assisted down to the huts by her two companions. She was made comfortable in the huts before her companions walked out to raise the alarm late on the following afternoon. The helicopter was able to land at the huts, where the onboard intensive care paramedic assessed and stabilised the injured woman before she was flown to Wairau Hospital for further treatment.