Choppers to be specially built for job
TWO new rescue helicopters destined for Cairns and Townsville will be purposebuilt from scratch.
The State Government confirmed last month it would replace the current Rescue 510 chopper and Townsville’s equivalent with brand new aircraft, leaving the Cairns helicopter as the back-up for both cities.
It came after months of calls for action with no redundancy available in the area when the choppers were down for maintenance.
Barron River MP Craig Crawford told the Cairns Post the new helicopters might still be more than 12 months away because it was “a matter of waiting for them to be built”.
“They are made to order. We are in line to have them constructed,” he said. Agusta, which manufactures the helicopter, is based in Italy. The helicopters would need to be shipped to Australia.
It is understood they are worth about $20 million each.
“It will be a good 12 months before we see them,” Mr Crawford said.
The helicopter was unable to respond to four of the last five fatalities on the Reef in the Far North last year, prompting tour operators to call for a solution. During one incident in January this year, medics had to choose which incident the chopper attended with a woman pulled unconscious from the water at Green Island at the same time a male snorkeller got into difficulty at Moore Reef.
The 43-year-old woman survived, while the 63-year-old male tourist at the reef died at the scene despite attempts by tour staff to revive the man for 45 minutes.
The Surf Life Saving Queensland annual report released last week showed the last 12 months to June 30, 2017, had been the worst for snorkeller deaths in five years with 11 recorded across the state.
Most of these were in the Far North.
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