Badly injured hunter rescued

A seriously injured hunter was last night airlifted to safety in a rescue mission launched by the Rescue Coordination Centre New Zealand (RCCNZ).

The mission to recover the 54-year-old Australian man was initiated just after 7pm yesterday after RCCNZ received an alert from his 406MHz emergency beacon in the area around the George River in Fiordland. The beacon alert coincided with a call from the South Island Mountain Radio Service, advising that the hunter had a broken leg.

RCCNZ Search and Rescue Officer Keith Allen said a machine from the Southern Lakes Helicopter Service in Te Anau, equipped with night vision equipment, was sent to rescue the hunter. Although flying conditions were very good, the rescue was “not straight forward,” because the area of bush where the man was injured was too high for the helicopter winch to reach the ground.

“The hunter’s injuries were also worse than at first thought, with a badly broken leg, fractured pelvis and suspected internal injuries sustained after falling over a bluff,” Mr Allen said. “The rescue team then had to go in on foot and move the injured man to a more suitable spot so the helicopter could gain access, where the winch still needed to be extended to its longest reach.”

Mr Allen said one of the rescue crew from the helicopter then had to spend a night camped at the rescue site to make room for the injured man and his companion.

Mr Allen said the pair were flown to Invercargill hospital late last night, where the man was treated. The helicopter would return to the rescue site early this morning to pick up the crew member and retrieve the man's rifle and pack.

“Thanks to the hunter being well prepared by carrying an emergency beacon and mountain radio, we were able to launch a rescue mission and reach him relatively quickly, which probably saved his life,” Mr Allen said.

RCCNZ is the national coordinator for all major (Category 2) search and rescue incidents within New Zealand’s search and rescue region – an area covering more than 30 million square kilometres. It responds to significant incidents on land, air and sea, and all distress alerts from emergency beacons. RCCNZ is part of Maritime New Zealand and is Government-funded to provide a 24 hour, seven day a week service.