17 January 2005

Injured man winched to safety

The Wellington based Westpac Rescue Helicopter winched an injured quad bike rider out of the Rimutaka Ranges near Featherston around 9 pm last night.

The 24 year old Featherston man was injured when his quad bike rolled over his leg. The Wairarapa Ambulance Service was taken to the scene and found the man suffering from a suspected broken leg and ankle. The ambulance officers stabilised the mans injuries and called for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter to winch him out and transport to hospital.

"Rather than take him out on the back of another quad bike, which would have been 30 minutes over bumpy terrain, the ambulance officers decided to call in the helicopter to winch him out" says Jon Leach, Westpac Rescue Helicopter crewman. "We winched our Wellington Free Ambulance paramedic down to the scene, winched him and the patient out and had them into Wellington Hospital 20 minutes later".

The man arrived at Wellington Hospital at 9:25 pm last night. He has been admitted to Wellington Hospital and reported to be in a stable condition.

ENDS

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