Overnight Hike Leaves Injured Stranded

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Overnight Hike Leaves Injured Stranded

Overnight Hike Leaves Injured Stranded
Lives saved

4

Hiking

Hiking

Forest

Forest

Medical emergency

Medical emergency

Normal conditions

Normal conditions

Wind

Wind

Hiking

Overnight Hike Leaves Injured Stranded

-35.2971811°S, 150.260474°E

Posted on August 2, 2022 by Mel

What happened?

I was leading a group of 4 hikers overnight in remote terrain when one walker broke an ankle, and could not walk. I dragged her down the rough hill terrain to a nearby creek (fortunately we were near the creek when it happened) so the group could have water and camp for the night. I set off the beacon, got her inside the tent and inside her sleeping bag. 

Medical Personnel

Weather conditions near zero degrees Celsius and wind began to pick up. Helicopter arrived and dropped 2 rescuers down, but by then gale force winds meant helicopter could not return that night.  I walked out to safety the next day leading the other 2 walkers, but the rescuers and the injured were stuck in the bush for another 2 days because helicopter could not back because of the gale force winds. 

MedEvac
Ground Set-Up
Helicopter Pick-Up

Words of wisdom

After I pressed the beacon button, it took about 10 seconds before the light on it started to strobe. Those were the longest 10 seconds of the drama.  Note that the beacon strobe doesn’t go off immediately. When I saw the strobe light on the beacon starting to go off I felt an immense sense of relief that help would be on the way soon.

Thank you note

Rescue location

Talaterang Creek, New South Wales, Australia

Rescue team

Local Search and Rescue

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