TRHT has busiest weekend on record

Added Tuesday 10 February 2009

Taranaki Community Rescue Helicopter flight crew were this morning debriefing the multiple missions undertaken in their new Agusta Koala AW119 after working their way through the busiest weekend on record.

An injured tramper is winched to safety off Mount Taranaki during the open climb. Pilot: David Manduell Crewman: Steve Orr ALS Paramedic: Rob Berry

The Taranaki Community Rescue Helicopter has responded to 12 missions between 6pm on Friday and late on Sunday afternoon. TRHT Manager, Noel Watson, said the team of several marine, alpine and medical flight crew members worked in a marathon effort that had them almost continually in the air. "Since 6pm on Friday night we have completed 12 missions, which is a record for us," Mr Watson said "eventually calling on our stand-by helicopter from Heliview Taranaki, to assist us in covering two simultaneous missions."

While January was in itself a record month with 37 rescues, this month seems to be shaping up to exceed that as well. The Trust Manager said he believed the surge in callouts was mainly due to the summer weather.

The weekend's calls started with the transfer of a critical patient from Hawera Hospital to Taranaki Base. A little later on Saturday morning the helicopter was called to Waverley where a woman needed to be flown to Wanganui Hospital following a severe asthmatic episode. Following that a marine flight crew responded on three separate occasions during the weekend to search for a 53-year-old man who initially went missing at Port Taranaki on Saturday morning.

On Saturday afternoon the Rescue Helicopter winch team were called to three separate incidents on Mount Taranaki; a 50-year-old woman who collapsed several times while on the mountain, a 20-year-old female who sustained an ankle injury, and a man who slipped 50 meters down into a ravine during the Egmont Alpine Club open climb. It was during that time the Taranaki CommunityRescue Helicopter was also requested to respond to a motor accident just out of the South Taranaki township of Waverley, so the support machine from Heliview Taranaki was despatched along with a TRHT crewman and paramedic to attend.

Later on Saturday evening the Crew were again requested to assist with an airborne search of the coastline between Paritutu Rock and Okurukuru after two people were seen running into the surf. Fortunately, the pair was later found by police safely on dry land. A short time later the Taranaki Community Rescue Helicopter was in the air again. This time to search off Back Beach after a flare sighting. The flight crew searched between 10pm and 1am but nothing was located. The search resumed at 6.30am yesterday, and was suspended at 8.30am after nothing was found.

To top off this extremely busy weekend a further mission was activated late on Sunday morning when the helicopter crew responded to attend a fatal accident in Eltham where a 16-month-old toddler tragically died after being run over by a family vehicle on a rural driveway.