RESCUE EARNS AWARD
MAN DEFIES CROCS
AN unassuming young man from a tiny North Queensland town has received an Australian bravery decoration for swimming to save a man trapped in a car submerged in crocodile-infested floodwaters.
The rescue near the Herbert River, which was threatening to breach its banks in Halifax on March 25, 2018, not only involved award recipient Kurt Bligh, then 19, but also three women and quick-thinking emergency responders.
Mr Bligh, awarded a commendation for bravery in the Australian Bravery Awards, said he was approaching the Halifax Bridge from Macknade when he saw a vehicle parked to the side of a flooded culvert and the top of a utility vehicle almost completely submerged in the rising waters.
The culvert is a highway for saltwater crocodiles migrating between the Herbert River and Macknade, with Senior Sergeant Gio Tantalo, the officerin-charge of Halifax Police, saying there were three confirmed sightings of salties in the culvert that night.
Mr Bligh, said he was aware of the dangers but jumped in anyway, saying he swam to the vehicle because he did not want to touch the bottom of the culvert with his feet in case he stepped on something unpleasant.
The Palm Island Barge Company worker, said he struggled for between 30 seconds and one minute in murky, headhigh waters to open the utility vehicle’s door, unfasten the seat belt and free the man.
His flatmate Kimberly Paul and Townsville woman Jade Lucas also waded out into the dangerous waters to drag the heavy man to high ground.
Sandy Rutherford said she had driven from her Taylor’s Beach home to Halifax with daughter Jade and her two young children to buy provisions ahead of peak floodwaters. “We’d gone through Halifax and decided to see what Macknade was like because there was water there as well and we drove past what we could see was a ute in the water,” she said.
It was at this point that Mr Bligh arrived.
“He just jumped in and yelled there was someone inside so I called triple-0.”
Mrs Rutherford said she was proud of her daughter’s actions helping bring the man to high ground.
Gregory Sexton, Mrs Rutherford’s husband, said Sandy’s first aid training kicked in and with Mr Bligh’s help she turned the victim on his side to clear his airway.
“Shortly after this the policewoman arrived and between Kurt, Jade, Kimberley and the policewoman (the victim) was moved up onto the road,” he said. “Within a minute or two the ambulance arrived and all helped lift (the victim) onto the stretcher.”
Snr Sgt Tantalo also praised the actions of Senior Constable Shelley Millns, now based in Cairns, and Halifax-based Queensland Ambulance Service paramedic Trevor Hulbert in saving the victim, who had suffered a medical episode prior to driving off the road.
He said the victim, married with children, was stabilised and taken to Ingham Hospital where he was flown to Townsville Hospital in a serious condition.