A complex rescue operation has retrieved a man whose leg became trapped under a boulder near Macquarie Pass south of Wollongong.
Key points:
- Emergency service crews worked to free the man who was on a canyoning trip when the accident occurred
- Crews were alerted to the accident at about 11:45am and had to walk 15 kilometres to locate him
- He was rescued at 6:45pm and airlifted to St George Hospital with serious leg injuries
Emergency services were alerted to the accident just before midday.
New South Wales Ambulance paramedics, Fire and Rescue officers, the Rural Fire Service and State Emergency Service volunteers had to walk 15 kilometres along the Clover Hill Trail to reach the man.
It is believed the man’s hip was pinned by a boulder thought to weigh between 3 and 5 tonnes.
The man was released from the boulder at 6:45pm and airlifted to St George Hospital with serious leg injuries.
The man is understood to have been on a canyoning expedition through the Macquarie Rivulet when the accident occurred, however, is not yet known what happened to cause the man to become trapped.
Canyoning is a type of adventure sport where participants descend through steep creeks by relying on a combination of methods including abseiling, rock scrambling, jumping, and swimming.
'Complex' air rescue required
A paramedic and a doctor were winched into the site to help stabilise the injured man.
Separate teams from Fire and Rescue NSW loaded specialist hydraulic lifting equipment onto the NSW Ambulance rescue helicopter at Shellharbour Airport in preparation.
The extraction was delayed due to a thunderstorm that struck the area.
Superintendent Adam Dewberry said earlier in the day it would be a "complex" rescue as the large boulder would need to be lifted.
"This is a really precarious incident," he said Friday afternoon.
"We have to make sure that when we lift, the boulder does not roll further onto the causality or the rescue workers, causing further entrapment of injuries."