The Bundaberg-based RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter crew has found an elderly man, who had been missing in freezing conditions overnight, trapped in a barbed wire fence and unable to free himself.
The rescue chopper was called into action by Queensland Police Service (QPS) shortly after 8am (Sunday 26th), to assist them and other emergency service personnel, who had been searching his family’s large South Burnett property.
The missing man, who is aged in his eighties, hadn’t been seen since 4pm yesterday. (Saturday 25th June).
With the overnight temperature dropping to zero degrees in the area, there were serious concerns for his well being.
After conducting an aerial search for twenty minutes, the helicopter crew found him in a location where the chopper couldn’t land, due to the terrain.
It was decided the Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) Flight Paramedic would be winched to the patient and assess his condition.
The QAS flight paramedic found the man caught in barbed wire, unable to untangle himself.
He was quickly freed and had suffered only minor scratches during his ordeal.
The rescue crew then directed a QPS ground crew to the patient, who was driven to the search command centre, then transferred by a waiting ambulance to hospital for observation.
