Busy days for rescue helicopter
Taranaki’s rescue helicopter has had a busy couple of days.
Over that time it covered all facets of the service it provides – water emergency, medical emergency, car crash, mountain rescue and a search. And covered the region from Pa¯ tea to Awakino as well as one trip to the central North Island.
The busy period started on Friday afternoon when the chopper headed to Pa¯ tea Dam, where a teenager had been injured in the lake, general manager and crewman Andy Cronin said.
‘‘The young man was flown to Whanganui Hospital. As we were about to leave Whanganui we were tasked to near the Huka Falls to a car crash.’’
Seven people were injured in the crash at an intersection of Huka Falls Rd and the Thermal Explorer Highway, shortly after 5pm.
Both the Taupo and Tauranga Rescue Helicopters also attended.
Being called to an incident in that part of the country didn’t happen often, Cronin said.
‘‘Only if several people are seriously injured. We flew a child to Waikato Hospital.’’
Saturday morning saw the helicopter rescue a man off the northern summit track on Mt Taranaki.
‘‘He was on the Lizard, close to the top. He’d fallen over and injured himself. We winched him up into the aircraft and took him to [Taranaki Base] hospital.’’
Then the crew headed to Awakino in North Taranaki. A ‘‘young fella’’ got into difficulty while swimming at the Awakino Heads. They flew him back to Taranaki Base Hospital.
They were then tasked with going south to Opunake, Cronin said.
‘‘There was a woman in her 80s with a medical emergency. And Sunday morning we were helping the police with a search in Ha¯ wera.
‘‘It’s certainly a busy time of year and we’ve seen everything in the last three days. It has been a diverse weekend.
‘‘It’s only possible because of the amazing volunteers helping us with some of that specific work and without the support of the community we couldn’t do this.’’
Last year the rescue helicopter carried out 199 missions, one less that the record 200 missions they completed in 2015.
There continues to be a need for the service, Cronin said.
‘‘Demand isn’t dropping.’’