Charge for rescue services ‘could put off call for help’
Rescue services say they don’t charge for search and rescue operations because recouping money could discourage those in peril from calling for help.
The comments, by the Rescue Coordination Centre of New Zealand (RCCNZ), follow the rescue of an Australian climber from Mt Aspiring.
A stricken Lieutenant Terry Harch, 29, was airlifted to Dunedin Hospital on Friday suffering frostbite after activating his distress beacon four days earlier.
He spent the following days waiting for a break in the weather until Search and Rescue teams could locate him.
Land Search and Rescue chief executive Carl McOnie told Radio New Zealand rescue missions like Harch’s — paid for by the taxpayer — were expensive.
“To give you an estimate, helicopter costs usually fall in the range of $2250 to $3750 per flying hour, then on top of that people’s time and all of the rest of it. Yeah, it can get up there,” he said.
RCCNZ spokeswoman Pania Shingleton said New Zealand did not charge for search and rescue.
“We do not want anyone delaying making an emergency phone call, a mayday radio call or activating a distress beacon for fear of cost.
“It is an international, reciprocal search and rescue arrangement with most countries in the world.”
The agency’s advice for activating a beacon was: “If you feel your life is in grave or imminent danger, you should first try to use two-way communications such as phone or radio so that you can talk to emergency services. If this is unavailable, then a distress beacon should be activated.”
A search and rescue operation began on Tuesday, but poor weather meant rescuers could not reach the climber until Friday afternoon.
Harch was said to have used his military training and mountaineering skills to shelter from the freezing conditions. Four Wanaka Alpine Rescue crew members were also dropped off to look after him with warm clothing, tents and food.
In a statement his family said, “We would particularly like to thank the New Zealand Rescue Coordination Centre, Wanaka Alpine Cliff Rescue and Mount Cook Cliff Rescue for their work in saving his life.”
Harch’s family also thanked the medical staff who are treating him for what is understood to be mild frostbite on his hands and dehydration. It is not the first time Harch has called for help from NZ search and rescue crews. In January 2013, Harch had to be airlifted off Mt Tasman.