Life Flight Winches Hunter From Sheer Cliff At Cape Palliser

At approximately 6pm tonight The Life Flight Trust was tasked to locate and rescue a Hunter who had become lost in the Cape Palliser area.

Life Flight responded in the Westpac Rescue Helicopter with an Intensive Care Paramedic on board from Wellington Free Ambulance.
Due to the nature of the mission and the time of day the Life Flight crew used State of the art Night Vision Goggles and a 20 million candle power searchlight called a Nitesun to aid in the rescue.

The Hunter, a man in his 40’s was located quickly, due in part to good information provided to the Life Flight Team by the Police and locals in the Mangatoetoe area, plus the Night Vision Optics used by the crew made it possible to pick up the hunters torchlight from over 5 kilometres away.

The Hunter had taken a wrong turn and ended up on a sheer cliff known as Kupes Sail. With the wind picking up and approaching bad weather a Helicopter rescue was the only option.

Due to the terrain landing the Helicopter was never going to be a safe option, so the Paramedic was winched down to the hunter and then they were both winched back onboard the Helicopter.

The man was then assessed and cleared of any medical issues and then dropped off on the beach to walk back to his nearby car.

The Life Flight Trust is a charity providing air rescue and air ambulance services. It operates the Wellington based Westpac Rescue Helicopter and a nationwide air ambulance service. It relies on support from the public and sponsorship from partners such as Westpac to provide these services. Further information can be obtained from www.lifeflight.org.nz

ENDS

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