A 65-year-old who broke his ankle while going on a bushwalk away from his campsite in North Queensland has been airlifted to safety.
The man got into trouble while the remote Broken River Trail at Eungella, 81 kilometres from Mackay,
When leaving his campsite, the traveller told his wife he would be back within two hours. Shortly afterwards, however, disaster struck and he fell awkwardly breaking his ankle.
Luckily though, the hiker was well equipped and immediately alerted emergency services by activating a distress beacon. A CQ Rescue crew was dispatched with crewman Keeley Wakefield on board, but the rocky terrain and a thick tree canopy made it impossible to get a visual from the air of the bushwalker.
“We made our way out towards Eungella National Park and were searching in the area for an hour,” Mr Wakefield said. “We had a weak signal for the personal locator beacon and the decision was made to winch myself down and then I proceeded to search on foot for about half an hour before I found the patient.”
Mr Wakefield actually had to wade through a river and navigate thick bush to find the man.
“He (the bushwalker) had a whistle and that attracted my attention and was the only reason I could really find him,” Mr Wakefield said. “After searching for a while, I realised he was actually on the other side of the river and that the best chance of me getting to him was to be winched back out and dropped closer to his exact location which was about 100 metres away.”
Mr Wakefield said he saw a flash from the man’s camera as he was being winched down again from the chopper.
“When I finally found him he was taking my photo and saying ‘my rescuer is here’,” Mr Wakefield said. “He was pretty happy to see me and doing really well all things considered.”
The bushwalker was well prepared and it saved his life.
Bob always carries our emergency beacon and his wallet, with an emergency USB stick containing all his medical and medication details, but we have never thought to include a whistle. Will certainly do so now!