A 60-year-old man’s leg was amputated after being trapped between rocks during a kayak trip in a natural park on the Australian island of Tasmania, local police announced on Saturday, November 23, broadcast by several media outlets, including CNN. and The Guardian. .
In a statement, the police explain that the man, who is not an Australian national, had participated in a group kayak excursion on a river in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, in the heart of the island, when his leg was damaged. trapped in a crevice located in an area of rapids.
20 hours of intervention without success
“A smart watch made a call for help,” prompting an emergency intervention in the area, described as difficult to access.
For 20 hours, “several attempts” were made to “extract” the victim, part of whose body was submerged in the river water, but his leg was trapped. After about twenty hours, the medical teams observed that “the patient’s condition was deteriorating.”
“In consultation with the patient, it was decided to amputate his leg to facilitate his rescue. The operation was successfully carried out by the medical team,” the police wrote.
The victim “in critical condition”
The victim was then airlifted and taken “in critical condition” to Royal Hobart Hospital, Tasmania’s capital and largest city. “Every effort was made to remove the man before making the difficult decision to amputate his leg,” said Deputy Commissioner Doug Oosterloo.
“This rescue was an extremely difficult and technical operation,” he said, praising the “incredible effort” made by emergency teams to “save this man’s life.”
Inhabited by Aboriginal people and popular with tourists, Franklin-Gordon Wilds Rivers National Park is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness Area, a rugged, classified forest area of more than 15,000 square kilometers in the western part of the island. as a UNESCO world heritage site since 1982.
Source: BFM TV
