He Slipped and Fell Nearly 20 Meters… Rescuers Had to Tie Themselves to Safety Ropes and Stay on the Cliff With Him All Night: A Rescue Mission Filled With Extraordinary Courage and Compassion Is Touching Millions of Hearts
A mammoth rescue mission has ended on a Queensland mountain after an injured hiker spent 16 hours stranded on a cliff face, tied to rope alongside his rescuers.
The retrieval mission was launched on Mount Beerwah in the Glass House mountains on the Sunshine Coast hinterland on Saturday.
A mammoth rescue mission has ended on a Queensland mountain after an injured hiker spent 16 hours stranded on a Mount Beerwah cliff face, tied to rope alongside his rescuers. 9News
Battling high winds with little room for error, technical rescue crews worked under extreme pressure, helping winch the man in his 20s off the mountain into a waiting helicopter.
“He was quite thankful, got himself into a pretty – very awkward positon,” Queensland Fire Departments’ Ben Walker said.
The hiker was on a solo expedition on Saturday afternoon when he slipped, tumbling about 20 metres over rocks and injuring his ankle.
“This young fella by all accounts was prepared. He had water and phone charge, he had warm clothes with him,” fellow firefighter Matt Ginns said.
Importantly he was still able to call Triple Zero, prompting a scramble by specialist firefighters to reach him.
“[It was] Quite a long process even locating the casualty, we didn’t reach him to about 2 o’clock in the morning,” Walker said on Sunday.
A mammoth rescue mission has ended on a Queensland mountain after an injured hiker spent 16 hours stranded. 9News
But with darkness set in, getting him out became too dangerous and he was forced to spend the night on the cliff.
“[We were] tied in to the rope, three of us on the side of the mountain,” Walker said.
Armed with food, blankets, and equipment the firefighters kept the injured hiker safe and warm as temperatures dropped.
Leaving him alone was never an option, so they hunkered down together waiting for daylight to make their way out.
“That’s the first time I’ve had to bunker down for the night,” Walker said.
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“But the casualty last night was in a position where we had no other option but to wait for a helicopter.
Ginns noted the cliff was “a bit cold andnot where you’d want to spend the night.”
The hiker was taken to Sunshine Coast University Hospital in a stable condition.
SOURCE: 9 NEWS
https://www.nine.com.au/australia-news/qld/glasshouse-mountains-hiking-mount-beerwah-rescue-mission-over-after-16-hours-stuck-on-cliff-20260809-p60mr8.html
