Helicopter Rescues in Tasmania "2"

[Overlandman]

From Tasmania Police
A search is currently underway for two missing walkers in South-West Tasmania.

Search and Rescue members on the ground and in the Westpac Rescue Helicopter are searching for two men in their 60’s who were on a walk in the Loddon Range area.

Around 9.10pm emergency services responded to a Personal Locator Beacon activation.

Ground crews were dispatched to the area overnight but were unable to cross the river as the conditions were not safe

Ground crews crossed the river safely this morning and are continuing the search.

The Westpac Rescue Helicopter has also been dispatched and is searching the area.

Update

Great news... the two missing bushwalkers have been located safe and well a short time ago.

“Around 9.08pm yesterday police received a report of two bushwalkers who had activated a personal locator beacon,” said Sergeant Damian Bidgood.

“The two men in their 60s were undertaking a day walk in the Loddon Range in South-West Tasmania. Search and Rescue members on the ground and in the Westpac Rescue Helicopter initiated a search, which continued throughout today.”

“About 5pm this evening, the men were sighted by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter. As the terrain and weather is too challenging for a winching rescue operation, a ground crew is now on the way to reach the men,” said Sergeant Bidgood.
“This is a fantastic outcome for everyone involved. It will take several hours for the search and rescue team, accompanied by paramedics, to reach the men.

"When the team reaches the men and assesses the situation a decision will be made as to whether they stay overnight at the location and walk out in the morning.” he said.

[lefroy]

Pretty decent 'day walk' with the shorter days. Glad they're ok.

[north-north-west]

This is another one I'd like to know more about when it's over. Lodden Range is a long, hard daywalk even in summer, which is why most people/groups do it as an overnighter. It's not the sort of place where you want to be returning by torchlight. Especially with that river crossing at both ends.

[headwerkn]

Yep, everyone I've spoken to who's done it didn't exactly recommend it. It's a fair effort even stopping at the lake for the night (which is probably the highlight of the trip).

Glad they're OK. Interesting to note that a winch rescue wasn't possible due to "terrain and weather". I'm curious to know how of much was due to the former? It's something we're becoming more aware of, walking through certain areas thinking "if I break a leg right here, a heli can't just pluck me up to safety".

Thinking seriously about what you and your group would have to do if someone suddenly were to become immobile tends to adjust your attitude towards risk rather sharply.

[Lophophaps]

Winching in steep places may be hard - the rotors may hit the ground. Thick tree cover and big rocks may preclude winching.

[Lostsoul]

They don’t like winch rescues unless there is no other option,mainly because the chopper being directly above is dangerous in itself.They always try to walk or carry a patient to somewhere they can land if possible before considering a winch.That’s why our choppers albeit becoming an ageing fleet are better than the mainland ones with wheels.Skid base choppers can land on rough terrain if required the wheeled version cant.

[Last]

Glad they're OK. Interesting to note that a winch rescue wasn't possible due to "terrain and weather". I'm curious to know how of much was due to the former? It's something we're becoming more aware of, walking through certain areas thinking "if I break a leg right here, a heli can't just pluck me up to safety".

Keith Lancaster wrote an account of rescuing a walker with a broken leg from the Loddon Range. Interesting reading.

[gatesy]

Police and paramedics are currently attending a scene where someone has fallen off Mt Gnomon in the Dial Range
Conscious but cannot move
Is likely to have fallen 20m

[Tortoise]

Not many places there to stop at 20m. Sounds like a very challenging rescue.

[north-north-west]

:shock: Not many places there to stop at 20m. Sounds like a very challenging rescue.

Depends which bit they fell off. Trying to remember ... isn't the summit a massive boulder, or am I thinking of Dial? If they went over the cliffs on the southern side, you'd think they''d have gone more than just 20m. Lucky enough to roll down one of the gullies rather than off the cliffs?
Sounds nasty, whatever happened.

[gatesy]

Helicopter there now and cloud coming in
Certainly a tricky rescue

The Dial high point is pretty much in trees, like Penny West (minus the elevation)
The Gnomon true high point is actually a rock that views from west, south and east

[Tortoise]

There's a spot a little to the west of the summit, where it's a less vertical drop. Hope to hear about the outcome, and hoping it's better than it sounds.

[Overlandman]

From Tasmanian Police Facebook

A search and rescue operation has safely extracted a group of stranded bushwalkers from the Lake Rhona area in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park this morning.

Rescue crews rescued the group from the Lake Rhona area this morning after they became stranded yesterday afternoon due to rising water levels.

The group of bushwalkers ranging in age from early to mid-thirties from Victoria, commenced a walk in the area on Saturday and raised the alarm via a satellite emergency call about 5.00pm yesterday.

The group was located by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter that was able to land in the area and safely remove the group about 8.20am this morning.

If you are planning a bushwalking trip, remember to be prepared:

✔️ Take appropriate equipment – like a map and torch, clothing and footwear to suit any conditions, regardless of the season take a waterproof jacket; adequate food and water, first aid kit.
✔️ Research the intended trip – ensure the trip is within your abilities and fitness level, and you have a route plan, map and check the expected weather forecast.
✔️ Let someone know before you go – ensure someone knows your route and expected return time.
✔️ Always carry a fully charged mobile phone and a PLB and consider a portable charger to extend battery life.
✔️ If you are heading out into Tasmania’s wilderness, download the Emergency+ application. This is a free smartphone application that uses GPS functionality to help identify an accurate location in a time of emergency.

[TentPeg]

So, if there was a walk bridge over the Gordon this "rescue" wouldn't have been needed?

[lefroy]

It would have just paid for itself. Is needing to catch a plane a life or death emergency?

[Last]

The lack of a bridge acts as a filter. If there was a bridge Rhona would be loved to death.

[Lostsoul]

From Tasmanian Police Facebook

A search and rescue operation has safely extracted a group of stranded bushwalkers from the Lake Rhona area in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park this morning.

Rescue crews rescued the group from the Lake Rhona area this morning after they became stranded yesterday afternoon due to rising water levels.

The group of bushwalkers ranging in age from early to mid-thirties from Victoria, commenced a walk in the area on Saturday and raised the alarm via a satellite emergency call about 5.00pm yesterday.

The group was located by the Westpac Rescue Helicopter that was able to land in the area and safely remove the group about 8.20am this morning.

If you are planning a bushwalking trip, remember to be prepared:

✔️ Take appropriate equipment – like a map and torch, clothing and footwear to suit any conditions, regardless of the season take a waterproof jacket; adequate food and water, first aid kit.
✔️ Research the intended trip – ensure the trip is within your abilities and fitness level, and you have a route plan, map and check the expected weather forecast.
✔️ Let someone know before you go – ensure someone knows your route and expected return time.
✔️ Always carry a fully charged mobile phone and a PLB and consider a portable charger to extend battery life.
✔️ If you are heading out into Tasmania’s wilderness, download the Emergency+ application. This is a free smartphone application that uses GPS functionality to help identify an accurate location in a time of emergency.

It’s not a taxi service,people seem to be too quick to press the button these days,they think they’re Carey Young from Sale Of The Century.Should have waited it out until the river dropped or found another spot to cross,thems the brakes when you go walking somewhere where there are river crossings involved.

[Son of a Beach]

Boggles my mind that people can't at least try to wait a day or two for the river to subside. I know people who've done exactly that at the same location. Does nobody carry emergency rations of food anymore? Or can they not survive without food for a day or so? From the way the news reports read, it sounds like they even had a satellite phone, so could contact people to let them know that they're running late. (In theory, they could have even arranged for somebody to bring more food to them, if required - so long as they had a good arm to toss it across the river ).

I guess we will never know the entire situation and the complete set of facts, but from what we read in the news sources, this seems that it does not qualify for an emergency "rescue" (or an expensive taxi ride), in my opinion.

(From my own experience in another location, I once camped for three days at a very unpleasant location while waiting for a flooded river to subside.)

[headwerkn]

I tend to agree... anyone heading into Rhona/Denisons etc. should be at least vaguely prepared to wait out 12-24 hrs on the western side of the Gordon for the level to drop. Or stash a packraft if they absolutely *must* get to the other side

The Gordon tends to rise and fall pretty quickly at that spot, and given the Rescue Team couldn't get there until the next morning... yeah, an unnecessary rescue. While a bridge is probably justifiable, it would create more problems than it solves with numbers into the area. It would be worth PWS plonking a sign near the tent area on the western side of the main (primary) log crossing explaining to walkers that 1. there's a slightly higher log crossing a couple of hundred metres up to try and 2. if that's no good, make camp and wait.

Unfortunately too many people - I'd assume mostly visitors, but probably locals as well - have a schedule, a plane to catch or work to get to and don't build in any flexibility into their plans for weather. Always risky, especially on longer trips in the SW.

[norts]

I waited for 7 days on the wrong side, supposed to be a 3 day walk. We had run out of food by then. River kept getting higher and it also snowed on about day 5. We eventually were rescued by Taspol and some volunteers from the UTAS kayak club. They brought an inflatable canoe down and ferried the two of us back across with the kayakers paddling beside the canoe if anything went wrong.

[Paul]

We didnt get stranded by rising flood waters on the way out, because we hid food after crossing the low level water on the way in. We knew we could be cut off because of the BOM forecast - that ensured we had enough food to sit out the time it took for the high level water to recede,.

Paul.

[headwerkn]

I waited for 7 days on the wrong side, supposed to be a 3 day walk. We had run out of food by then. River kept getting higher and it also snowed on about day 5.

That's the definition of a justified rescue
I've stretched 7 days' worth of food to 10 before, but 7 out of 3 is rather impressive!

[TentPeg]

Front page and page 2 news in the Mercury Monday.
They went in to Lake Rhona Friday with river levels low and returned Saturday to find the Gordon "completely flooded".
They set off a phone satellite on Saturday. The chopper arrived Sunday morning and flew the seven of them to Strathgordon and then drove them to their cars at the Lake Rhona carpark.
They returned to Melbourne on Sunday afternoon.
This is just wrong on so many levels.
If the chopper service is a taxi service then surely they could have just winched them down at the carpark!
And the article is written to suggest these people had no alternative.
Wrong on so many levels.......

[Roadtonowhere]

It was clear from the forecast for the area that the river was going to rise. As someone who sat for 2.5 days on the wrong side of the river over 25 years ago they should have been told to wait.

[Letstryagain]

It was clear from the forecast for the area that the river was going to rise. As someone who sat for 2.5 days on the wrong side of the river over 25 years ago they should have been told to wait.

Welcome to the 2020's it's the era of entitlement

[Roadtonowhere]

It was clear from the forecast for the area that the river was going to rise. As someone who sat for 2.5 days on the wrong side of the river over 25 years ago they should have been told to wait.

Welcome to the 2020's it's the era of entitlement

Apparently so.

[Tortoise]

Last time I was there, there was a PWS sign at the beginning of the track saying to take 6 days of spare food in case the river was too high on returning. That seemed excessive to me - we don't need as much food lying in a tent waiting than walking all day. In practice, I guess plenty of people arrive without all that extra food, though a bit of prep should mean they take at least some extra and be prepared to wait. On the other hand, perhaps some people interpret that sign to suggest that it's most likely to take 6 days for the river to go down enough to cross back.

[Tortoise]

Last time I was there, there was a PWS sign at the beginning of the track saying to take 6 days of spare food in case the river was too high on returning. That seemed excessive to me - we don't need as much food lying in a tent waiting than walking all day. In practice, I guess plenty of people arrive without all that extra food, though a bit of prep should mean they take at least some extra and be prepared to wait. On the other hand, perhaps some people interpret that sign to suggest that it's most likely to take 6 days for the river to go down enough to cross back, so they don't try waiting it out.

[Warin]

Last time I was there, there was a PWS sign at the beginning of the track saying to take 6 days of spare food in case the river was too high on returning.

Once on the other side of the river there would be little to stop people doing a food drop. Make it 10 days with tinned big sister puddings... and rum.

[Last]

If the Fire Brigade are called to your house and there's a fire or other emergency, it's a free service. If they are called and it's a false alarm, it costs. Not cheap either. Some years ago it was $500