Kayaker Trapped on Australian River Has Leg Amputated in 20-Hour Rescue
The police in the state of Tasmania said all other efforts to help the man, a foreign tourist in his 60s, failed before the decision was made to amputate.
By John Yoon, NY Times
Nov. 23, 2024
A kayaker’s leg was amputated on Saturday in a harrowing 20-hour effort to free him after he became trapped in rocks on a river in Australia, the police in the state of Tasmania said. The man, a foreign tourist in his 60s, was then flown to a hospital in the city of Hobart, where he is in critical condition, the authorities added.
The man, who has not been identified by the authorities, was on a group kayaking expedition in the Franklin River on Friday when his leg got stuck between rocks in a remote section of the rapids. Emergency teams responded when they received a distress signal from a smartwatch at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, the police said in a statement. When rescuers reached the remote location, they tried but failed to free the kayaker in the evening.
The kayaker spent the night partly submerged in the river; a medical team stayed with him throughout. In the morning, another attempt to free him failed as his condition deteriorated, the police said. After consulting with the man, the medical team amputated his leg using specialized equipment, the police said.
“This rescue was an extremely challenging and technical operation,” Doug Oosterloo, the acting assistant commissioner of the Tasmania Police, said in a statement. “Every effort was made to extract the man before the difficult decision to amputate his leg.” The police said they were in the process of contacting the man’s family.
Man’s leg amputated in near 20-hour effort to free him from rocks in Tasmania’s Franklin River
International visitor aged in his 60s fighting for life in hospital after accident on rafting trip on Friday
Australian Associated Press
Sat 23 Nov 2024
A man has had his leg amputated and is fighting for life after a complex 20-hour rescue in south-west Tasmania, after he fell into a rock crevice during a rafting trip with friends. The international visitor, aged in his 60s, was pack rafting along the Franklin River when he slipped and became trapped between rocks in rapids on Friday afternoon, acting assistant police commissioner Doug Oosterloo said. His smartwatch made a call for assistance about an hour later and triggered an emergence response, providing rescuers with his location.
The man was partly submerged in water and workers unsuccessfully tried to extract him several times on Friday evening and Saturday morning. A medical team stayed with him throughout the ordeal and determined his condition was deteriorating. “This was a life and death situation and the decision was made in consultation with the patient to amputate his leg to be able to remove him from the rock crevice,” Oosterloo said. “He is described as being in a critical condition but it is quite clear from the medical advice that had he remained in the location where he was, and trapped in the rock crevice he would not have survived.”
Oosterloo said it was a challenging rescue for everyone involved and said workers did well to get the man out. The man was sedated while his left leg was amputated above the knee. Ambulance Tasmania’s Charles Wendell-Smith said his colleagues described the man as resilient and positive throughout the rescue attempts. “Very positively focused and optimistic to be rescued and get out of the situation that he was in,” he said. One ambulance worker slipped at the site and suffered a wrist injury.
“The scene was an incredibly challenging location in the remote and austere environment of the south-west of Tasmania on the Franklin River,” Wendell-Smith said. “Not only were they in the elements throughout the night with limited communications, but they were in a precarious location with lots of hazards and risks around them.”
The man was trapped for about 20 hours in total and had been travelling in a group of 11 international visitors, who Oosterloo said were well prepared and well resourced for the multi-day rafting trip.
“The beauty of Tasmania’s wilderness is what attracts people to this state but that wilderness is also some of the most challenging and rugged terrain in the world,” he said. “Even if you are well prepared, even if you do take all necessary precautions, things can go wrong. “It’s a really timely reminder to people to make sure you take all those precautions in the interest of your own safety.”
Authorities have not identified the man publicly or revealed his nationality as they have been unable to contact his family overseas. Those travelling with him are being airlifted away from the area and police are waiting to speak to them to find out exactly what happened. “Our understanding is that he was scouting the area,” Oosterloo said. “They’d stopped kayaking. They were on the shore. He was scouting the area and he slipped and fell into that rock crevice.”
