EIGHT MISSIONS CAPS BUSY WEEKEND FOR REGION’S RESCUERS
September 11, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EIGHT MISSIONS CAPS BUSY WEEKEND FOR REGION’S RESCUERS
RACQ CQ Rescue was tasked to eight missions across the region this weekend including two flights to Moranbah yesterday and two flights to Hayman Island on Saturday.
Yesterday, the Mackay-based rescue helicopter was tasked by Queensland Health to fly to Moranbah twice, once at 10am and again late last night, to airlift hospital patients and transport them to urgent specialist care in Mackay.
One of these patients had been hospitalized after falling from a horse on a private property earlier in the day and was suffering serious internal injuries and lacerations. He was transported by helicopter to Mackay Base Hospital in a stable condition. About midday yesterday, the chopper crew were also tasked to transfer an ill hospital patient from Bowen to Mackay.
On Saturday, the helicopter made two emergency flights to Hayman Island in the Whitsundays, once in the morning and another about 9pm, for an unwell resident and then for a sick child who had been holidaying on the island with family.
The service was also tasked by Queensland Health about 6pm on Saturday to a tragic incident at Koumala State School where two men, who had been attending the school’s centenary celebrations, had been bitten by a snake. It is believed one man was envenomated and suffered a cardiac arrest whilst trying to assist the other.
Enroute to the school about 60km south of Mackay, RACQ CQ Rescue was stood down by Queensland Health after emergency services on scene confirmed one man was deceased and the other was transported to hospital by road.
On Friday, a patient who was suffering chest pains on a work site at Moranbah was transferred by helicopter to Mackay for further treatment. The rescue helicopter service was also tasked by Queensland Police Service about 1pm Friday to conduct a search for a person feared missing after going overboard from a vessel near Airlie Beach. The person was located safe and well by water police and the search was called off.
The transfer of a patient to Townsville on Wednesday last week, the final of four mercy flights to the northern city completed in the seven days prior, RACQ CQ Rescue clocked up the 11,600th mission completed since 1996.
RACQ CQ Rescue flew to Hayman Island twice on Saturday to airlift an unwell resident and then a sick child to hospital. These were two of eight missions completed across the region over the weekend.
Please credit any released photos and video footage to RACQ CQ Rescue.
Please note: Full title of rescue service is RACQ CQ Rescue.
For further information please contact:
Naomi Noy
RACQ CQ Rescue
Ph: 0417 578 182